Lionsnake Manor
by Hopeakaarme
Summary: The squickfic of all times!The LupinPotterSnapeMalfoyBlack sixsome is living happily in their Lionsnake Manor AKA Malfoy Manor. However, future is having some new plans for them. SLASH MPREG almost INCEST RLSBHPSSLMDM
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: giggles No, they're not mine... Just the plot is...

A/N: Well, I browsed through my older folders, and this is what I found. I remember that I had great fun writing this. The beginning was in _Sandy Black and Vicky Lupin_'s **A Day in Married Life**, where some reviewer suggested a complete sixsome marriage. They've never even got chap 9 up, but this is what I made from that suggestion... Or, the beginning.

There'll be more, as long as somebody stands this... So, test how easy you are to squick! All kind of reviews are appreciated, no matter what kind they are! XD

**WARNINGS:** Featuring SLASH, MULTIPLE PARTNERS and implied INCEST (Although it's not really that, I'll explain in the later chapters), as well as horrible OOCness from some characters. If any of these disturb you, you can either turn around - or read this and tell me what you think! I'll be glad to read your reviews!

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Morning, Part I

* * *

It was morning.

It was morning in the Malfoy Manor.

Or, it was morning in the place that had once been known as the Malfoy Manor. Nowadays they called it the Lionsnake Manor, for a reason too obvious to not be known, since half of its inhabitants had been in Gryffindor and the other half in Slytherin.

So, it was morning in the Lionsnake Manor. In one of its bedrooms, to be accurate.

Remus Lupin-Potter-Snape-Malfoy-Black woke up feeling very warm and comfortable. He yawned and smiled slightly. He was still encircled in Lucius's embrace. For a moment he just lay there, enjoying the sensation of his lover's arms around him. Then he sighed and gently took Lucius's hands off, crawling out from under the covers. He slid to the floor without a sound and shivered slightly as his bare feet met the cold stone.

He glanced back at the huge bed. They were all there, like they always were when he woke up. In a cute row slept the five most important people in his life: Lucius, then next to the blonde Harry, whose hair was even messier than usually - Remus grinned at the memories of the previous night this brought to his mind - then Severus, looking just as serious as always, slightly smiling Draco and at last, in the opposite end of the bed, Sirius.

He grinned. It looked like Sirius had again taken on his favourite habit and slept inside Draco. The young blonde hated it, or at least he said he hated it, but still he allowed the Animagus to do so. This was a source of endless amusement of the others, and they always teased Draco of it - until Sirius decided to pay for his embarrassed lover and did the same to the noisiest teaser. That was, until he found out that Severus in fact loved it and would tease Draco mercilessly in order to make Sirius do so.

Remus shook his head and chuckled. A marriage was never easy, and it definitely wasn't it when the two married were wizarding soulmates - but one knew nothing about complex relationships before living in one like this.

The werewolf made his way to the shower, where he washed himself quickly. Then he headed to his own bedroom. After dressing himself, he went to the kitchen to get some breakfast from the house-elves. The others would show up when awake.

* * *

Lucius Lupin-Potter-Snape-Malfoy-Black woke up only to notice that there was no one in his arms. It didn't surprise him very much, though. Remus had always been the one to wake up first. He pulled the cover better over himself, keeping his eyes shut. There was no use in opening them yet, since he wanted a shower and he didn't want it alone. So he had to wait for one of his mates to wake up.

He felt Harry's arm against his back and smiled. The young Gryffindor was warm, like he always was. Severus's touch felt cold, and Draco's, but Harry was always so warm. Not that he didn't love Severus and Draco as well, far from it, but he just preferred warmth when it came to who he wanted to wake up next to. Harry was his favourite right after Sirius, whom he liked simply because of the nice, familiar scent of the Animagus. Waking up with Sirius near was like the Heaven - for some reason he always felt safe and loved when he smelled that scent, and Merlin knew he really needed that feeling after all those years under the Dark Lord's Imperiatus.

He hoped that somebody would wake up soon. Severus, most likely. The Potions Master was never one to sleep late.

He grinned. Severus was always so much fun in the shower.

* * *

Severus Lupin-Potter-Snape-Malfoy-Black woke up rather slowly. He blinked several times, sitting up very slowly. The Potions Master liked being awake rather early, but he hated the actual waking. Once he'd get out of the bed, however, everything usually became much easier.

Getting out of the bed was the difficult part.

He glanced around him. Seemingly Remus had already left. No surprise - the werewolf was always the first one to wake up. There were still four people with him in the bed. Because he seemed to be in the middle, he had two equal choices. He could climb out of the bed over either Sirius and Draco or Harry and Lucius. He decided to go to the way with the younger Malfoy and Animagus, since Harry simply hated being waked up in the morning and would have hexed him if he'd accidentally shook him awake.

"Sorry, Mum," he muttered when he started crawling over the bodies of his lovers. He always did that, nearly every morning. No matter that his mother couldn't hear him, no matter that he didn't really mean it - it had grown into him, become a habit he couldn't get rid of. Not that he'd been very eagerly trying, since both Sirius and Harry found it utterly cute.

When his mother had long, long time ago found out that her son was in fact a gay, she had made him promise never to wake up next to more than one man at time. When he then had introduced her to his fiancés - not only two, which could have been nearly sufferable, but five of them - she had been completely stunned. Not only by the amount of them, but also his choice of mates - a werewolf, an ex-convict, a Death Eater and the Death Eater's son, no less. Should the last one not have been the Boy-Who-Lived, she'd probably had disowned Severus at the same moment.

Because of Harry's presence, however, she had accepted to at least talk with them for a while. Fortunately she had soon been charmed by Sirius's wit, Harry's kind character, Lucius's wonderful behaviour, Remus's smile and sweet intelligence and Draco's ever-happy comments. Nowadays she just loved every one of her sons-in-law, although she complained about not having grandchildren every time she only had the opportunity to do so.

He yawned as he got over Sirius on the edge of the bed and dropped on his feet. Then he made his way towards the bathroom. He was just placing his hand on the door handle when he heard a voice behind him.

"May I join you?" Lucius asked suggestively, walking towards him.

"I never say 'no' to a naked man," Severus chuckled, allowing his lover to join him for the shower.

* * *

Sirius Lupin-Potter-Snape-Malfoy-Black woke up to some very distracting noises. He noticed in an instant that he was still inside Draco. The Animagus pulled out carefully, determined not to wake up the young blonde, and sat up on the edge of the bed. He listened carefully.

Yes, the noises were really distracting. A quick glance over the bed told him the absence of three people. So Remus had waked up and left, like he always did, and now Severus and Lucius were having fun in the shower.

Unfair. If somebody was having fun around, he wanted to be in it.

Without even thinking twice he walked to the bathroom door and opened it. He was greeted by a sight of kneeled Severus and moaning Lucius. Enough to turn him on.

"May I join the fun?" he asked, grinning at his two lovers. To his great delight, they both accepted his request immediately.

'There are even worse ways to get a shower,' he thought as he settled behind Severus and put his arms around the Potions Master.

* * *

Well? Well? ::jumps eagerly up and down:: Tell me what you think!

Next chapter: **Morning, part II**

The rest (Draco and Harry) wake up. And our guys have a breakfast together.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I only own the insane plot, JKR owns everything else.

A/N: This is _so_ my luck. When I try to write threesomes, half of the people go "Ewww" and don't like it. So, when I try to squick people with a sixsome, 90 absolutely love it and half of the rest like it a bit. Geez...

Oh, and I did accidentally rate this fic originally G. I must assure you, that is _most definitely_ not the case with this fic. This is, after all, SLASH, SIXSOME, and future MPREG, plus continuous INNUENDOES and BAD LANGUAGE. (And that'll go as a WARNING, too.)

Anyway, keep reviewing/flaming/whatever, and I'll keep writing!

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Morning, Part II

* * *

Harry Lupin-Potter-Snape-Malfoy-Black into almost empty bed. The only one still there, besides himself, was Draco. The blond wizard lay on his side some way away from Harry, his platinum hair messed up almost as badly as Harry's.

Harry crawled over to his only younger husband, kissing him right on the mouth. "Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty," he murmured then with a smile.

"Mmm-hmm... Harry?" Draco sat up, yawning slightly. "What time is it?"

"Dunno," replied the Gryffindor, "but at least there's nobody else but we two here in the bed."

"Doesn't prove anything," grumbled the blond wizard. "You know very well they all get up too damn early every bloody fucking day!"

"My, my, why do you use such language, my dear?" questioned Harry, smirking. Just a few years before, he'd never smirked, but nowadays, it was a common habit to him. You cannot be married to three Slytherins without picking up some traits from them, after all.

"Because you woke me up," replied Draco. Then he got up from the bed, however, and proceeded to dressing himself. Harry decided to follow the suit.

Once they were dressed, Harry glanced at Draco. "Now, shall we go find your father and the others?" suggested the bespectacled man, grinning.

"Ewww, Harry, don't say that," Draco groaned. "You make it sound like _incest _or something!"

Harry snickered, then hugged Draco comfortingly. "I'm sorry," he said. "I never meant to scar your poor little mind." The other young man just glared at him.

It wasn't true, anyway. At the same moment as Draco and Lucius had met for the first time after Draco's sixteenth birthday, they'd realized their soulbond. And, at that same moment, all parent-child feelings had been wiped away from between them. To the Wizarding law, most of the society, and, most importantly, to themselves, they weren't a father and a son, and had never been. They were just husbands, just like the others, with no bloodties or father-son like love between them. It wasn't incest, not even in the word's mildest form.

So, they started to make their way to the kitchen, where the others undoubtedly were, chattering cheerfully on their way there.

* * *

Remus raised an eyebrow as Lucius, Severus, and Sirius entered the kitchen, the two first ones smirking satisfiedly, and a wide grin plastered on Sirius's face. "Okay, so what did you do now?" the werewolf asked curiously.

"Oh, we just took a shower," Lucius replied mildly, wiping his long, blond hair over his shoulder. No matter how long time they'd been married, it still had the same effect -- Sirius was practically drooling at the mere sight of Lucius's hair flinging over the blond's broad shoulders.

"What? And didn't invite me?" asked Remus in mock-hurt. Then he yawned slightly. The oncoming full moon was already wearing him down.

"You look tired," observed Lucius, eyeing Remus concernedly. Truly, Remus did look tired. He had shadows under his eyes, and his expression was simply exhausted. Not to mention that he didn't sit up straight like he used to, instead, he was slumping forward in his chair, as if under great strain.

"Of course," the werewolf muttered dryly. "It's only three days to the full moon."

"Oh," said Sirius, sipping the tea that was placed in front of him by a house-elf. Then he smiled at his lycanthropic lover over the rim of his cup. "Who's the lucky one this time?" he inquired.

Usually, Remus could keep the werewolf's instincts far away from himself. However, a couple of days prior and after a full moon they were much stronger and started to affect him. As wolves were all monogamous, the wolf made him unable to find pleasure with more than one of his mates at that phase of the moon. This one was randomly picked by the wolf each month. The choice differed enough to keep everyone happy about it, although the choice more often was set on Sirius or Lucius, who were older than Remus, than on Severus, Harry, or Draco. The younger ones - even though Severus was only a month younger than Remus was - accepted this ungrudgingly.

"I cannot say that yet," the werewolf replied absent-mindedly. "The wolf hasn't made its final pick yet. Although I can already tell that it's not you," he added, glancing at Sirius.

"A pity," the other Gryffindor said with a slight grin. Then, he frowned. "Hey, guys, does your tea taste the same as usual? Mine tastes... _odd_." His frown turned a bit worried. Over the years of War, he'd more than one time been the victim of an assassination attempt -- just like most of them. Fortunately to him and his soulmates, those attempts had never managed.

"Let me see that," Severus replied, taking the cup from his unprotesting hands. After a slight sniff and a tiny sip of the drink, he smirked. "Of course it tastes odd to you," he said. "The house-elf accidentally gave you a cup with honey, instead of sugar. So, you're not being poisoned or anything. Pity, though."

"Getting paranoid on our old age, aren't we?" teased Lucius, chuckling slightly. He was the oldest in their sixsome, six years older than Sirius, Remus, and Severus, and the whole of twenty-six years older than Harry and Draco. Of course, none of the age differences had ever bothered them. So they were of two different generations, and? Who cared about that, as long as they loved each other? Nobody, that was it.

A soft hoot and tapping behind the window broke their conversation. Sirius stood and went to the kitchen window, letting the owl in. She flew immediately to Severus, who unfastened the letter on her leg. As soon as this was done, she flew out again, obviously not having been instructed to wait for a reply.

"Well? Who is it from?" asked Sirius, curious as he always was. It might have been curiosity that killed the cat, but like Severus kept saying, it could kill a dog just as well.

"My mother," replied the other dark-haired man absentmindedly. His eyes scanned through the letter as he continued talking. "It's the usual. Greetings, well-wishes, a short description of her recent doings, and then most of the letter full of not-so-subtle hints about not having grandchildren." He rolled up the parchment with a deep sigh. "It's getting rather annoying, really."

"Then why not give her what she so much desires?" suggested Lucius with a smirk. "Grandchildren, I mean?"

"You must be kidding," replied Severus, giving him a disbelieving glance. "How the Hell do you think we could be _fathers_?"

"Hey, I've had a child in the house before," said Lucius defensively. "Personally, I think it could be quite sweet. We could have many of them, since if there was just one or two, we'd spoil them rotten. Then we could argue about which one of our Houses they're going to, and then the Sorting Hat would put them all into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff just for the hell of it."

"And I and Harry could teach them Quidditch," added Sirius, his expression lighting up a bit. "And we and Moony could make them Marauders!"

"Merlin help Hogwarts after that," muttered Severus. Then his expression turned thoughtful. "Maybe at least one of the kids would be talented in Potions," he mused aloud.

"Or maybe at least one of the kids would have the Lycanthropy or the Dark Plague," suggested Remus mildly. At his husbands' murderous glances, he said defensively, "What? You know it's possible. Okay, so the chances of them getting my Lycanthropy are rather slim, but they could easily get the Dark Plague. You do realize that half of us have a risk for that, don't you?"

The others nodded with grave expressions. The Dark Plague was a magical illness only affecting those who were involved with Dark Arts. Lucius and Severus, as Death Eaters, and Remus, as a werewolf, were thus inclined to the illness. It was bad for an adult -- a very good reason for them all to constantly dose themselves against it, as the traces of Voldemort's magic were still whirling around the Wizarding World, raising the risk even greater than it was usually -- but to children, it either was fatal, or left them permanently deformed. One person inclined to that could not have the baby inherit the illness, but if both parents were inclined to the Darkness, the chances of the child being born with the Dark Plague were pretty high. Therefore, Remus's worries were well reasoned.

"We could always take precautions," noted Lucius. "Either we don't have any of us carrying the child, or if one of us does, the two others keep well clear of him during the fertile period."

"What are you talking about?" asked a curious voice from the doorway. As they turned to look there, they saw their two youngest soulmates standing there, side by side.

"We were just discussing the possibility of having children," replied Sirius mildly. Just like with Lucius and Draco, all traces of his godfather bond to Harry were wiped away, as well as the paternal feelings he'd had for the boy before Harry's sixteenth birthday.

"Great!" Harry's brilliantly green eyes lit up. "I'm volunteering to be a carrier!" At the others' surprised gazes, he folded his arms defensively across his chest. "What? I've always wanted a big family!"

"I don't doubt that," chuckled Lucius, smiling slightly at the young wizard's enthusiasm. "Now, sit down, both of you. We'll discuss the possibility of children over breakfast."

* * *

Next chapter: Err.... Text?

Feedback! Puh-lease?


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I only own the hilariously unbelievable plot. JKR owns the characters (and would probably have a fit if she knew what I'm doing with them).

A/N: Wow, you guys really like this one, don't you? This has the most reviews for a chapter from all of my fics -- 44 reviews for two chapters! The second one, _Happy Birthday, Remus Lupin_, has 20 reviews for one chapter...  
So, let's see whether the average will get even higher!  
Oh, and I'm planning a nasty surprise to our guys somewhere in near future... Just wait and see...

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Morning, Part III

* * *

"So. Babies," said Sirius as Harry and Draco had settled on the table. "I take it that you'd want them, Harry?"

"Yes!" the young wizard said, nodding his head enthusiastically. "And lots of them! When I was little, I always dreamt of a big family. Now I have one, but I still don't have any children!"

The others laughed lightly at this. Then Severus said, "The main question is still how. I don't know whether there are spells to make us all fathers of one baby, and I don't think that'd be wise -- if I, Remus, and Lucius were all combined, the baby would get the Dark Plague for sure." As the others nodded at this, he continued, "So, I think it'd be the fairest if we had the children in pairs. We have six adult men here, we should be able to handle three babies at the same time. Besides, like Lucius stated, we would spoil them completely if there were only a few of them. Now, the tricky part is to decide the pairs. Of course, I, Remus, and Lucius cannot be considered in any combination, and I don't think Draco and Lucius would be wise, either. No matter what, you have too much similar genes for that to work." At this, he passed a sharp glance at the blond men, who both nodded in understanding.

"So, let's get this straight," Sirius muttered. He quickly summoned a piece of parchment and an everlasting quill from the nearest of their many studies. Then he started dotting the unacceptable pairings on the parchment. "Harry has volunteered to become pregnant," he then muttered while writing down Harry's name on the left side of the parchment. "Who else?"

The others exchanged glances. Lucius was the first to speak. "Not me, at least," he said with a defensive tone. "Can you imagine me being submissive, or being _pregnant_? Even less, can you imagine anybody else being _alive_ after I've been pregnant?"

"I think that closes you and Severus both out," murmured Sirius. "Sure, Severus can easily be submissive, but I don't think I want to face either of you in a mood swing." Therefore, he wrote Lucius's and Severus's names on the right side of the parchment. "So, we have me, Remus, and Draco left. One of us should be a father, and two should be carriers. Any volunteers?" he inquired, letting his gaze go around in the small group.

"You're just trying to get off the hook yourself," Severus smirked. Then, he turned back to his usual serious self. "Alas, no such luck, Sirius. Even though werewolves can indeed carry children to term, there are usually complications. Besides, with Voldemort's magic still wild and stray around the whole country, I'd rather not risk him catching the Dark Plague while carrying a child."

"Fine," sighed Sirius, knowing that there was no use to fight. Severus was right, after all. He quickly wrote his and Draco's names under Harry's, then added Remus to the other side of the parchment. "So, we only have to make the pairs. Draco with Lucius is automatically out."

"Black hair is a dominative trait, so if we don't want all our children look the same, we shouldn't have a dark-haired guy in every pairing," noted Harry. "So, Remus is pretty much forced to be with Draco."

"I think that'd be the better anyway," Remus said with a slight smile. "No offense, Sirius, but I'd rather not try my luck trying to knock you up. I'd most probably just end up being knocked up by you."

Sirius laughed and drew a line across the parchment, connecting the names of the werewolf and the younger blond. "So, what now?" he then asked. "Severus, do you want me or Harry? And Lucius?"

"Again, we must think about appearances," Lucius smirked. "Black eyes are also a dominative trait. Don't we all agree that it'd be such a pity if our dear Harry's eyes didn't pass on to the next generation?"

"There's always a change that they would, but let's be sure," said Harry lightly. "So, it's you and me, then?"

"So it seems." At this, Lucius nodded at Sirius, who connected he last two pairs.

"When are we going to do this, anyway?" asked Draco then. He sounded half nervous, half eager to get begun.

"Well, the potion growing the temporary uterus is the tricky part of this deal," mused Sirius. "How fast can you make three doses of it, Severus?"

"I could have it ready for this evening, if need be," the dark-haired Slytherin replied calmly. "Although I think we have to take in the full moon factor, right, Remus?"

"Right," the werewolf said, sounding a bit unsure. "If I just --" Then, suddenly, his head jerked up. His eyes glowed a bit with a soft, amber light that never ceased to amaze and slightly terrify his husbands, then he again watched around himself. "The wolf made its pick," he said with a cool voice that was a direct result of the hellride of feelings he always got when the wolf had picked its mate for the full moon. "And I do think we have to postpone this plan because of that."

"Who is it, then?" asked Harry curiously. The others, too, were eager to hear the answer.

"Lucius," said Remus simply, then leant towards the older blond, who fortunately happened to sit next to him. Lucius merely smiled slightly, then wrapped an arm around the werewolf's shoulders.

"Glad to see that I'm loved," he said with a slight smirk. Then, he glanced at Severus. "Speaking of potions, Severus, I do think it's about the time for our doses, and the Wolfsbane, too."

"I think so, too," said Severus. "Blinky should be here at any moment with them." And truly, after mere moments, a house-elf popped to the sight. On a small tray it held four goblets, one full of steaming, silvery mass, the others all containing the same purple liquid.

"Which bottle did you take these from, Blinky?" asked Severus suspiciously, raising one of the purple-liquid goblets right under his nose and sniffing it. "The potion in the blue bottle has expired."

"No worries, Masters Severus," the house-elf replied swiftly. "Blinky take the potion from the green bottle. Blinky throw away the blue bottle, Masters Severus?"

"Do that," replied the Potions Master while taking the rest of the potion goblets from the tray. Every potion was his own brewery, and thus, they were the best quality available.

"Geez," murmured Remus, staring darkly down at his two gobletfulls of potions. "I don't even know which one tastes worse." Then, seemingly having decided not to worry any more about that kind of things, he then drank at first the Wolfsbane, then the Dark Plague antidote. After emptying the second goblet he simply fell down to rest his head against Lucius's shoulder. The others watched him with varying amounts of pity on their faces, even though Lucius and Severus were also concentrating on getting their own antidotes drunk.

Then, however, Remus straightened his back and grasped Lucius's arm. "Come on, Lucius," he said, and started to drag the blond out of the room. The other wizard did not resist -- the antidote to the Dark Plague was also a mild aphrodisiac.

And, as another result of that, Severus stood up and passed a suggestive glance to the rest of his husbands. They all took the hint, got up, and followed him out of the room.

* * *

I know that their reasons for picking the pairings were rather absurd at most, but who cares? I just wanted to make some pairs and fast, and couldn't think of any sensible reasons. And what in this fic is sensible, anyway? 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Mine is only the plot. JKR owns them all.

A/N: **Jenna-Sottle-SGS,** yeah, this is a parody. Or, at least I'm most certainly not writing this seriously, eg. thinking that these things might actually happen (for example, their marriage ). Originally, this was a squickfic, but seemingly even those I trusted to react negatively (you know who you are!) seem to like it at least to some extent.

Anyway, on with the story!

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Post-Coital Reactions

* * *

Lucius lay on his back on the wide bed, his long, sweaty hair clinging to his equally sweaty shoulders. He was lazily combing Remus's hair. The werewolf was lying with his head on Lucius's chest and, just like the blond, completely spent by now, as the antidote's effect on them started to wear out.

Lucius loved Remus. Of course he loved all his husbands, but right now, only Remus was there -- and only Remus would be there for the next few nights, as Remus could not stand anybody else in their bed right now, and he wouldn't even dream of leaving Remus alone. That would not do, not when he'd got the honour of being Remus's mate through the full moon that month. Most probably his other husbands wouldn't even have had anything to do with him if he'd abandoned Remus in such a situation and went to the others to seek more pleasure. Only that nobody could give him a greater pleasure than the one he got from Remus, just like nobody could replace Sirius, or Severus, or Harry, or Draco. They were all equally important to him -- all much more important to him than his own life.

But right now, his mind was full of only the thought of loving Remus.

However, suddenly, the werewolf stirred. Then he sat up with a jolt, seemingly having nothing like his usual post-coital sleepiness. Lucius raised a questioned eyebrow, at first in wonder, then in concern as he saw the grimace on his lycanthropic husband's face.

"The pre-full moon symptoms are hitting in," said Remus quietly. "It feels like my stomach was in fire!"

Lucius sighed in genuine concern. Then he leant forward, rising halfly from where he just lay, and pulled Remus in a comforting hug. He knew, they all knew, that the few days before and after any full moon were really difficult to Remus, and in many ways. Not only he had to settle on just one mate at time, but also his body went through some horrible things -- to "adjust", the specialists had said at St. Mungo's, to "recover". They'd said it could not be helped, and had claimed that to be true, even after Sirius had lost his undoubtedly short patience and attacked the nearest mediwitch, demanding her to heal Remus _immediately_. However, stomach cramps where one of the most frequent symptoms -- not to mention most painful, and most distracting. Whenever they hit, Remus could not concentrate on anything else but them. To be honest, Remus could do pretty little else but double over in pain.

"Try to stand it, love," Lucius murmured, stroking the werewolf's back in a soothing manner. "Just a few days more, and it will all be gone again."

"I know," whispered Remus through clenched teeth, his face now a mask of pain. "And I try, but -- but it just hurts. A lot. It hurts a lot."

Sighing deep, Lucius drew him into a comforting embrace. There was nothing else the mate of each month could do to help Remus but hold him close and talk sweetly to him. Remus couldn't take any painkillers, as mixing other potions with Wolfsbane could be dangerous. Until then he'd even skipped the Dark Plague antidote around the full moon, but just recently Severus had managed to prove that the two potions used together wouldn't have any _too _dangerous side-effects. Side-effects the mixed use might have, some even harmful, but nothing dangerous that wouldn't go away after the full moon.

So, Lucius now tried to comfort his husband. He wasn't really good at it -- Harry and Sirius, along with Remus, were the best comforters in their family, after all, they were Gryffindors -- but for Remus, he did his best. And seemingly that was enough, as Remus soon sat back up and leant against him, even though his arms were still wrapped around his stomach and he shivered every now and then as a new shock of pain hit him.

Lucius sat there, greatly enjoying the feel of Remus's naked back against his chest while murmuring comforting words -- a tiger cannot get rid of its stripes, and he'd always been fond of practically any physical contact, even if it didn't have any ulterior motives. Anyway, they both were now comfortable -- well, Remus was as comfortable as he could be in the current situation.

And thus, everything was good and well for a little while.

* * *

Severus lay on his back on the big bed in the Master bedroom. Three of his soulmates lay beside him, all in different states of sleep. However, Severus was feeling rather brisk, like he always was after sex. In that aspect he was very different from all his husbands -- most of them fell asleep almost immediately after having sex, no matter what time of the day it was, and even though Lucius didn't do that, he was usually very unwilling to move an inch more than he absolutely had to. So, not wanting to face the consequences of waking any of them, Severus decided to use his extra energy on thinking.

He was still worried about what effects the Dark Plague antidote and the Wolfsbane Potion might have together. Both were his own creation, and he knew them like his own hands. He'd checked and cross-checked every ingredient in them that might affect something else before allowing Remus to use both at the same time. Those cross-effective ingredients did not form any potion or poison he knew -- and there weren't many that he didn't know -- other than one simple concoction that might cause him a headache, which was a familiar thing to Remus around the full moon anyway.

Still, he couldn't help but be worried. There were, after all, some potions that he indeed didn't know, as he'd never studied them more carefully. He knew the basics for everything, but the complex recipes and cross-referenced ingredient lists he should have known to be sure about the side-effects he did not know for everything. Usually he wouldn't have allowed the mixed use without being absolutely sure that there would be no surprises, but as he'd seen his husbands' growing concern about Remus possibly catching the Dark Plague around some full moon, he'd finally given a permission to using both potions at the same time.

Still, there were doubts in his mind. What if there was something he hadn't thought about? None of the potions he didn't know were harmful -- in Voldemort's service he'd learnt every poison, antidote and any harmful concoction available -- but there could be some surprising side-effects he'd rather avoid.

The Slytherin's sharp mind started to go through the potions he hadn't thought he'd need. Well, there were some rare ones for "female problems" -- the basic cures for those he of course knew -- that he'd never had any need for. Then there were some potions that had only an amusing effect, like turning their drinker's skin another colour -- foolish things, he'd never cared to look into those more carefully than he needed to recognize one before he'd be fooled into drinking them. And of course there were some simple potions that didn't belong to the student curriculum and he'd never bothered learning because of their easiness, and love potions -- all illegal and mostly ineffective -- and...

Suddenly he sat up with a startle. It could not be true, could it? Most probably it wouldn't be, he was worried for nothing -- but he had to check. He absolutely _had_ to check.

Getting up from the bed, in too much hurry to even try to avoid shaking any of his husbands awake, Severus practically ran towards the door of the bedroom. He stopped for a moment to pull on his robe from the floor, even though he didn't bother with other clothes -- nobody but possibly his husbands would be there to see his nakedness so that didn't really matter, but the Manor could be really chilly sometimes -- and rushed to the corridor.

It took him mere minutes to reach his personal library. It was a small room, filled from floor to ceiling with books about potions, and potions only. The only larger collection of that kind of books in the whole country -- in most of Europe, even -- was in the Hogwarts school library. Pulling several books down from the shelves and spreading them to the desk in the middle of the room, Severus started to quickly glance through the recipes.

Halfway through the second book, he was beginning to slowly relax. Nothing seemed to be wrong. Some of the potions were near to the combination of cross-effective ingredients in the potions he was concerned about, but none were near enough to matter. So, there was seemingly no reason to panic like he'd done.

However, as his eyes darted down the next recipe, he suddenly froze. Then the book fell from his hands to the desk with a small thud as Severus himself fell backwards, in a dead faint.

* * *

Next chapter: **Worried Decisions**

Sirius and Draco are very worried when a house-elf wakes them up, telling what has happened to Severus.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Mine is only the insane plot, and the house-elves mentioned here.

A/N: I'd better very, very soon what, exactly, **AffectedMangoO? **Kill you?

Any way, on on on...

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Worried Decisions

* * *

"Masters Sirius! Masters Sirius!"

Sirius grumbled slightly. "Go 'way," he commanded. He did _not_ appreciate being woken up so soon after sex.

"Wake up, Masters Sirius! Masters Severus is not well!"

Now, Sirius was wholly awake, staring right into the wide, concerned eyes of a house-elf. "What?" he blurted out, sitting up on the bed. "What's wrong with Severus?" He couldn't help but be worried. Severus always kept sure not to show any signs of weakness. Therefore, if he was "not well," something had to be really wrong.

"Twinky finds Masters Severus in Masters' library. Masters Severus is not awake!"

"He's fallen asleep in his library?" asked Sirius, blinking in confusion. What the hell was Severus doing in his library when everybody else was comfortably in their bed? And why had he fallen asleep? That was definitely very un-Severus-like. The Potions Master slept very little overall, and never anywhere outside their bed.

The house-elf's answer, however, made him even more worried. "Not sleep, Masters Sirius," Twinky said, "not awake. Masters Severus is..." After a moment of frowning thoughtfully, the creature realized, "Faint! Faint is what Masters Severus is!"

This made Sirius instantly leap out of the bed and rush towards the door, not even bothering to put on his robe. He stopped on his place, however, as he heard a voice behind him.

"Where in Salazar's name are you running naked, Sirius?" asked Draco, accompanying his question with a loud yawn. The blond young man sat on the huge bed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "Not that I didn't appreciate the sight, but..."

"Masters Severus is not well, Masters Draco!" Twinky shrieked before Sirius could even open his mouth. "Twinky find Masters Severus faint in Master Severus's library!"

That certainly startled Draco wholly awake. "Let's go," he breathed and rushed to Sirius's side.

So, they both ran towards Severus's personal library, a worried house-elf whining on their heels. Horrible thoughts were flowing through their minds. There certainly was no "safe" reason for Severus's sudden fainting. However, fainting for no seeming reason was the first noticeable symptom of the Dark Plague. And with Severus, the risk was even greater than with Remus and Lucius -- despite his husbands' continuous protests, Severus had continued researching and brewing Dark potions.

When they at last arrived to their destination, they truly found Severus lying on the floor, unconscious. On the floor next to the darkhaired Slytherin they saw one of his seemingly endless books concentrating on potions of all kinds. Realizing that they hadn't thought of bringing their wands, Sirius turned towards the house-elf, who had followed them all the way there.

"Fetch our wands," he commanded, then quickly added, "and bring our robes, too." It was freezing, even though the thick woollen carpet on the floor protected their bare feet from the icy cold stone floor.

The house-elf nodded vigorously and disappeared. A moment later it returned, two robes and wands in its tiny arms. Sirius and Draco both took their own robes and wands, quickly putting on the robes.

As soon as Sirius had slipped on his robe to cover his naked body, he pointed a wand at the collapsed man. "_Enervate_," he whispered.

For a couple of seconds they both waited nervously to see whether Severus would wake up. If he didn't, that would mean that he indeed had the Dark Plague -- and that would be a disaster. If he truly had caught the disease, not only would it be hard and dangerous to Severus himself, but he'd also have to be separated from Remus and Lucius to protect the two from getting infected.

Fortunately, however, a moment later Severus's eyelids fluttered slightly. To their great relief the Potions Master then woke completely, opening his eyes and sitting up. "What -- oh, yes. Of course," he said quietly, massaging his temples with his fingertips.

"Severus, what in Salazar's name happened?" asked Draco worriedly. "Why on Earth did you faint?"

"I found a potion that is a direct result of the cross-effective ingredients of the Wolfsbane Potion and the Dark Plague antidote reacting together," the ex-Death Eater said quietly. "Even the amounts of the ingredients are correct, there's no way it wouldn't happen."

"And what's that potion?" asked Sirius, frowning slightly. This did not sound good. What would happen to Remus?"

"Well, see it for yourself," sighed Severus, taking the potion book to his hands. Flipping a couple of pages backwards from the page that had been open when the book had fallen from his hands, he then shoved it for his husbands to see.

As Sirius saw the recipe, he cursed aloud. Draco, on the other hand, went pale and whispered, "Oh, sweet Merlin."

"Exactly," muttered Severus gloomily. "A male pregnancy potion. One of the strongest, even -- one that will stand even a werewolf transformation."

"And Lucius is his mate for this full moon," muttered Sirius. "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

"Just that," murmured Draco. Then he raised his eyes at Severus, looking worried. "Is there anything we can do?" he asked concernedly. "Remus will definitely not accept an abort, no matter what. And we cannot put him through the pregnancy only to have him lose the baby to the Dark Plague as soon as it's been born!"

"You're right, we cannot do that," said Severus, sighing. "Neither can we tell Remus, at least not before the full moon is over; he has enough worries as it is. I fear that the only thing we can do is to tell Lucius to use protection spells without Remus noticing, and hope desperately that they haven't already managed to create a child."

"For anything I know Lucius, they already have triplets coming," Draco said with a deep frown. "But you're right, we cannot do anything else. There's no way we could tell Remus."

"If something happens, it will be my fault," said Severus with another sigh. "I didn't check the potions properly before allowing him to use both simultaneously. It'll be my fault, like everything is always my fault," he then added with a gloomy voice.

"Stop that," scolded Sirius, frowning. "What do you mean everything is your fault? _What_ is your fault? Not this, anyway. You couldn't have known."

"Everything is my fault," argued Severus stubbornly. "It was because of my prejudices that we four older didn't get together sooner. And it was because of my attitudes that Harry and Draco didn't get together sooner. Shit, it was because of me that you fell to that trap during the War!"

"For Merlin's sake, listen to yourself," sighed Sirius. "Severus, we didn't get together sooner because of _my_ prejudices against Slytherins, and _my_ stupidity that almost got you killed. It was because of Harry's and Draco's own attitudes, as well as the House prejudices that were _not_ your doing, that the two didn't get together before they turned sixteen. And it most certainly was not your fault that I and Remus fell to that trap. The trap was set by Voldemort, you were a bait, and it was all our fault that we were stupid enough not to notice that it was a trap!"

"He's right, you know," said Draco quietly, placing his hand on the arm of the younger one of his husbands present right then. "None of those things is your fault, Severus. So, before you get too involved in your own personal guilt trip, think sensibly. We most certainly aren't going to allow you to go down that road again."

Severus sighed and shook his head. He knew that the two were right, however. Just as well he knew that there was no helping his thoughts -- nobody knew exactly why, but somehow the Wars and the years of spying had installed a kind of depression inside him. Only a year before he'd sunk really deep to self-blame and depression, even to the point of cutting himself and harbouring suicidal thoughts. Thankfully, his soulmates had saved him from such an ill fate.

"Now, we need a plan," said Sirius, trying to lead the conversation away from the worst direction. "What about this: I and Draco distract Remus for a while. Meanwhile, you, Severus, then explain everything to Lucius, as you know the situation best -- I don't even know exactly _how_ that male pregnancy potion is created, I'm only taking your word for it."

"Sounds simple enough that it might even work," mused Draco aloud. "However, there's still one question mark, and a big one. Exactly how are we going to lure Remus away from his chosen mate?"

"How on Earth could I know?" asked Sirius, flashing his most charming grin. "I'm a Gryffindor, I only can make general plans. Take care of the details now, my dear Slytherins."

"Brat," huffed Severus. "I'll shove details up your arse." After a second of frowning thoughtfully, he snapped his fingers. "Of course," he said. "It's quite simple, really. You two need his help with something -- quick, make up something you might be interested in but can't understand. And to make sure that he's out of hearing when I talk with Lucius, I'll ask Lucius to help me with some imaginary potion. Then, when we are in my laboratory and you're keeping Remus busy elsewhere, we'll be able to talk without Remus hearing."

"Sounds great," said Sirius, flashing a grin. "Quick, Draco. Put your Slytherin mind in use. What are we going to ask his help with?"

"Easy," said the younger Slytherin with a slight grin. "We're of course interested in hearing of werewolves' mating habits, and exactly how the mate bond is different from our soulmate bond."

That made Sirius groan aloud. "You can't be serious," he said with a whiny voice.

"Well, I am interested in that," replied Draco, grinning even more -- they all knew about Sirius's impatience with anything too theoretical. "Might as well take all the benefit we only can from this situation. Besides, you said that it was up to us to set the details. Suffer the consequences, now."

"Fine," grumbled Sirius, causing the two Slytherins to smirk triumphantly. "Now, let's go." And so, the Animagus started to make his way out of the little library and towards the part of the Manor where Remus's around-full-moon quarters were, and where the werewolf and Lucius were currently residing. Draco and Severus followed.

* * *

Next chapter:

You know it as well as I do.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Nuhuh, I dunn own them.

A/N: This chapter is very, _very_ short, sorry, but I just have to get something out before I have to fully concentrate on my on-coming exams. I hope you still like it.

Oh, and **hipa**, you aren't Finnish by any chance, are you? Anyway, sorry, but Sev's not going to be a mommy. I have other plans for him.

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Shocks and Self-blaming

* * *

When Severus got to the end of his explanation, Lucius cursed aloud. "Like the life wasn't already hard enough for him," the blond man muttered angrily.

Severus sighed. "Unfortunately, the life rarely gives a single thought to our current difficulties before handing out its so-called gifts," he said. "You'll just have to remember to cast a contraception charm -- and try to make sure he won't notice it. We'll tell him after the full moon is over, it wouldn't do to have him too upset right before the transformation."

"I know, and I'll try to do that without him noticing," Lucius replied. "However, I cannot help thinking that he might already be pregnant. After we made love when we'd left the kitchen, he had stomach ache. Of course it could be just the usual pre-full moon symptoms, but it seemed to be even more painful than usually. It could just as well be his body trying to adjust to carry a baby."

"And most likely it is so," said the other Slytherin gloomily. With another sigh, he added, "Harry would say that it's not so, and that there's a tiny chance for the baby to avoid cathing the Dark Plague even if it is you and Remus's. However, as I don't have his ever-damned Gryffindor optimism, I'm finding it rather hard to believe."

"Gryffindors are expectionally good on hoping," agreed Lucius. Then he bent down to kiss Severus lightly on the lips. "We'll do our best," he said. "Now, let's go to find Remus, Sirius, and Draco, before Sirius is bored to death."

With a dry smirk, Severus followed him out of the laboratory.

* * *

It was three days after the full moon, and Remus's mating instincts had already eased enough to allow him to act lovingly around all his husbands. However, he was very confused when they sat him on an armchair, serious expressions on all their faces. Then they just kept glancing at each other, like silently depating who would talk first.

"Remus," said Severus at last when nobody else seemed to be up to speaking. "I -- I've made a mistake."

This immediately gained him a couple of annoyed glances, and Sirius's huff, "It's not your fault, you prick." To this, all the others seemed to agree.

"But it is," argued the Potions Master. Then, again turning towards Remus, he said, "When I was checking all the cross-effective ingredients in the Wolfsbane Potion and the antidote... I forgot completely to check one important group of potions."

"And what's that?" asked Remus warily. It couldn't be anything dangerous, could it? Severus had checked every poison and harmful potion in his knowledge, and that was as good as any of those in existence!

At first Severus took a deep breath. Then he said, trying to be as calm as possible, "Male pregnancy potions."

Remus gasped. "You -- you don't mean --" he stammered, glancing at his husbands in horror.

"I'm sorry, but I do mean," said Severus sadly. "You practically drank a male pregnancy potion. As soon as I noticed my mistake, I of course informed Lucius of this, and he used contraception charms -- unknown by you, of course -- after that. But we still don't know whether you got pregnant from your first intercourse that day. And now, we have to test it."

Suddenly determined, Remus nodded. "Perform the test spell," he said quietly. In his mind, he silently prayed, '_Let it not be, oh, let it not be..._' However, at the same time he already knew what would be the result. Nothing else could explain the stomach ache right after their lovemaking, it'd been so much worse than his usual pre-full moon symptoms.

At this, Draco raised his wand -- he was their Charms master, after all -- and pointed it at the werewolf's abdomen. After a quickly whispered charm, he gasped in shock as a slightly purple glow surrounded the tip of his wand. "I'm sorry, Remus," he said quietly. "You are indeed pregnant."

Now very pale, Remus bit his lip. "This baby," he said, "it won't live long."

"Maybe it will," Sirius argued. "It might not have the Dark Plague at all. And besides, it's not necessarily even Lucius's. Sperm cells live long enough for the father to be about any of us."

"That's maybe possible," the werewolf said with a bit bitter voice, "but it is highly improbable." With this, he placed a hand almost subconsciously on his still perfectly flat abdomen, caressing it slightly.

"I am so sorry, Remus," Severus said quietly. "I'm more sorry than I've ever been in my life. I should have thought of those potions and checked them, too. Really, I don't know what I was thinking by that time -- I really shouldn't have just forgot them --" In the end of this rant, his voice was getting alarmingly desperate. And Severus never sounded desperate -- never when he was in a normal state of mind, at the very least. What was truly alarming was that there had been times when he hadn't been -- and it'd never been pretty.

Sighing deep, Remus rose from his seat and crossed the room to the Potions Master. Closing him in a warm embrace, he said determinedly, "It sure as hell wasn't your fault, Severus. There was no way you could have known that this would happen. We all know that if you'd known, you wouldn't have allowed this to happen in the first place.

"He's right, you know, Severus," said Sirius, uncharacteristically serious -- no pun intended. "We've all already told you that it wasn't your fault. And we've told you that because it's true. Like Draco said, we aren't going to allow you to go down that road again."

"I know," the Slytherin said quietly, closing his eyes tightly as everyone's concerned eyes were now at him instead of Remus. "But it's not as easy for me to believe as it is for you to say."

At this, Remus just hugged him even tighter than before. The others just watched, not saying anything.

* * *

The next chapter:

How are their baby plans going to change, now that Remus is pregnant?


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author notes: Don't worry, Remus's baby won't die... Because you would surely kill me if I did that!

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Changed Plans

* * *

"This does bring a problem, though," said Lucius then as they finally trusted Severus to be calm enough for them to continue the conversation. "As we now know that Remus is indeed pregnant, we also know that he's unable to father a child for the time being. And as I'm the most probable father, this ruins our carefully laid plans."

"The most natural option would probably be to simply replace you with Draco in our Harry-blond couple," Sirius said. "However, I do recall that Harry wanted to carry a child, and I just can't imagine Draco topping him."

"True enough," Severus snorted, seemingly quickly gaining back his usual attitude. "However," he then continued seriously, "the statistics are that one out of four male pregnancies results with an early miscarriage. Or, rather, it is not even a miscarriage at all, as the pregnancy doesn't even start properly. So, my suggestion is that we still have three more pregnancies attempted, and statistically, we should end up having three kids." He did not mention the obvious fact that the child Remus was carrying would most probably die soon after it'd been born, if it didn't die to some complication during the pregnancy. They all knew that, though.

"And how would you create three couples from five men, exactly?" asked Draco, raising an eyebrow accompanied by a very Slytherin-y smirk.

"Easy," said Severus calmly. "At first I impregnant Sirius and Harry impregnants you, and then Lucius impregnants Harry."

"Why'd you come to that?" asked Harry, frowning slightly. "In case it's you and Sirius who are that statistical miss, all three kids will have a former Malfoy for a father!"

"And in case that happens, two of them will have a former Potter for a father," mentioned Severus levelly. "I'm not only counting in those statistics, Harry m'dear. We might just as well end up with having four children on the way. However, male pregnancies are much more risky. I know that this sounds rude, but Remus, you, and Draco are much more probable to have a miscarriage than Sirius, who's in a better physical shape and more capable of controlling himself, as ridiculous as it sounds when it's Sirius we're speaking about. Therefore I can almost guarantee that we will not have too many little Malfoys running around." And Lucius's child with Remus will most probably die anyway, the unspoken words echoed in their ears.

This silenced them, although everybody had to nod in agreement. Noticing that Severus's natural tendency to ignore -- or, rather, not notice -- other people's feelings had just shaken Remus pretty badly, Sirius decided to try to lighten the mood. "Now there's a true Slytherin speaking," he said, nodding towards Severus. "You just heard that he almost guarantees that he himself will get a child. If we ever get more kids, Severus will get Harry!"

"Merlin forbid that," mumbled Harry. "Both my mother and his grandmother had red hair, remember? We might get a child with red hair and black eyes! Can you imagine that?"

At this, they all had to laugh, or at least chuckle. However, Remus still didn't seem happy. Not by any means.

* * *

"Remus?" asked a quiet voice from the direction of the door. The werewolf turned around at the sound of his name. Seeing Lucius standing there, a concerned expression marking the blond's face, he sighed deep.

"Lucius," he said quietly. "I -- I am scared, love. Scared for our child -- scared of losing it."

"So am I, Remus," sighed the Slytherin, crossing the room to close his lycanthropic husband into a warm embrace. "So am I. But believe me, we will find a way to save it. I promise."

"Don't make promises you know very well you can't keep," said Remus bitterly. "There's no antidote in existence that could protect an infant from the Dark Plague -- assuming that it might live even long enough to be born, of course."

"Just five years ago, there was no antidote in existence that could have protected an adult from it," reminded Lucius. "And then Severus created one -- something nobody thought to be even possible. He has done wonders before, love, you know that. Just as well you know that he's going to do his best this time, too."

"I know that," admitted Remus. "And I know that when Severus does his best in anything concerning potions, it is the best anybody could do. But I am a naturally worried character; I can't help but worry. Especially when I have good reasons for that," he added, sounding almost bitter.

"Calm down, love," the blond said, tightening his embrace a bit. "It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault, really. Not yours, not Severus's, no, not even mine. None of us could have known, and none of us could have prevented it, no matter what Severus says. And we will keep the child alive."

"But if that doesn't manage," the werewolf said quietly, "if that antidote doesn't manage to keep our baby safe... then how will we keep Severus from blaming himself? Or doing something worse, even?"

To that, Lucius had no answer. Therefore, he just raised one of his hands to pet gently Remus's hair, his other arm holding the lithe brunet tightly against his chest.

* * *

"How are you, Sirius?" asked Remus concernedly, petting his elder Gryffindor husband's long, black hair. "You look like you were in pain."

"Well, I am," the Animagus said, flashing him a weary smile. "My stomach is still aching." At this, he shot a dirty look at Severus. "I hate you," he muttered lowly.

"No, you don't," the Slytherin said mildly, not even raising his eyes from the book he was studying. "You're only saying that to make me feel better."

"Oh ha ha," Sirius muttered. "Maybe I should have considered Mundungus's proposal a while longer. At least he has a sense of humour."

"Don't you even dream about that," Remus said quite calmly, swatting Sirius halfheartedly. "If I may remind, you have been with me ever since we were sixteen, other than during that unfortunate time you were otherwise occupied."

"Do you mean the twelve years I spent in jail?" asked Sirius harshly. Then he chuckled tiredly. "Lucius is the luckiest bastard," he muttered. "He has put two of us into this state, and doesn't get anything bad back at himself!"

"I agree," whimpered Draco from another couch nearby. Like Sirius, he was curled up in one corner of the couch, arms wrapped around his stomach. Remus felt genuine compassion for them, knowing exactly what they were just going through.

Of course, the fact that they were developing a womb was not yet a proof that they were indeed pregnant. It was just their body's reaction to the potion combined with the intercourse they'd just had with each of theirs chosen mate. If they weren't pregnant even with the Fertility Potions Severus had fed to them along with the male pregnancy ones, the extra bits in their bodies would just be reabsorbed.

"You know," Remus said thoughtfully, "I have a feeling that no matter how many of us are pregnant, we'll better than well get back to those who got us to this situation." At his comment, Sirius and Draco both smirked. It couldn't be said that Severus shuddered, he never did, but there was something very similar to a tremor going through his body.

* * *

"Severus, are you sure we should be doing this?" asked Lucius cautiously, glancing at their four sleeping husbands on the bed. "And why don't you just use the spell?"

The other Slytherin shot him a sharp glare. "Yes, I am indeed entirely sure," he replied. "I want to know exactly how much trouble we're in for. And you know very well that I detest any wand magic."

"That's only because you're horrible at it," the blond replied, rolling his eyes. "Very well, do whatever you want. But on your head be it if you wake any of them."

Severus smirked and nodded. Then he silently drew the covers from Harry, Draco, and Sirius, and raised a tiny potions phial, dropping a drop of the potion on each of theirs stomach. After a few seconds, a soft purplish glow enveloped all three men.

"Shit," cursed Severus. "Shit, indeed."

"For once, my dearest Severus," Lucius muttered, "I definitely agree." He had a reason to, after all.

The two were now burdened with four pregnant men.

* * *

Author notes: Next chapter: **Misfortune**

Something goes wrong.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Nope, I own absolutely nothing.

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to **Kitsuna Ri** for being the 100th reviewer of this very same story.

A short chapter this time... And sad.

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Misfortune

* * *

It was early in the morning -- more like night -- when Harry was suddenly startled awake by a strange sound. Blinking and trying to figure out what exactly he'd heard, he sat up on the bed. Then, the sound came again.

This time, however, he was able to tell where it had come from. The source of the small, whimpering sounds was the young blond wizard lying next to him.

"Draco?" he asked quietly, leaning towards the younger wizard. "Draco, love, what's wrong with you?"

The blond, however, did not answer. He merely groaned out again, his pale arms wrapped around his stomach.

Now really worried, Harry reached out to shake his shoulder. "Draco?" he asked quietly. "Wake up, please!"

"W-what?" mumbled Draco, blinking. As he caught the sight of the other young wizard's worried face, he sighed. "Help me, Harry," he whimpered. "It hurts -- it fucking hurts."

"What?" asked Harry, alarmed. "Where does it hurt?"

"M-my stomach," stammered Draco. As he raised his gaze up to Harry, the silver eyes were full of tears, tears of pain and fear. "Harry... I think that something's happened to my baby!"

This of course startled the darkhaired young wizard. "Oh, shit," he spat. Then, turning around in their bed, he whispered urgently, "Severus, wake up! Wake up now! Hey, Severus!" He shook the Potions Master's shoulder.

A moment later, Severus opened his eyes -- he'd always been a light sleeper. Harry sighed quietly in relief. Draco was maybe their only fully qualified mediwizard, but Severus was as good as. During the War, Severus had done little good in the battles -- even though his knowledge and skills in brewing potions were greater than those of anybody else, he could do a Lumos spell with his wand and that was about it. So, when he'd wanted to do something useful beyond brewing some healing potions that any fifth-year student could make -- even Neville -- Madam Pomfrey had trained him into an assistant for herself. With this training and his knowledge about all Wizarding medicines and cures, Severus made an excellent mediwizard whenever there was a need for one. And right now, with Draco himself whimpering in pain, he really was needed.

"...Harry?" mumbled Severus, looking up to the young wizard. "What's happened? Is something wrong?"

"Draco's hurting," Harry explained hurriedly, pointing at their younger blond husband. "He says it's his stomach. Please check soon whether the baby is okay!"

Only when he said this Harry himself began to understand that they might indeed lose one of their unborn children in such an early stage of pregnancy -- Remus was only a bit over a month along, and the others were just the month. As he thought about this, Severus's words began to echo in his mind. _"Remus, you, and Draco are much more probable to have a miscarriage..."_

It could not be. Draco could not lose his baby! That simply couldn't happen!

He watched worriedly as Severus crawled past him and crouched to examine the young blonde. After pressing the still flat stomach from about every direction and muttering some charms -- most scanning charms didn't require a wand, which suited Severus just well -- his expression turned even more serious than before. Ignoring Harry's worried questions, the Potions Master summoned a house-elf and told it to bring some potions that Harry did not recognize by name. The creature nodded and disappeared, only to pop into sight some time later with the requested potions in tow.

By this time, Lucius had woken up also -- another light sleeper. With them all now awake -- Remus's mating instincts hadn't yet let go of him after the full moon, so he and Sirius were sleeping in another room -- the elder blond and Harry watched quietly as Severus made Draco drink the potions. The young blond grimaced at the foul taste but downed the potions anyway, knowing that Severus would not make him drink anything he didn't need.

"What were those potions, anyway?" asked Harry quietly. "I didn't recognize any of the names."

At this, Severus lowered his eyes. "One of them will ease the pain," he said quietly. "The two others -- well, they'll help the body's natural recovery."

"Recovery?" echoed Lucius, raising his eyebrows. "From what, exactly?"

Now Severus raised his eyes, and even in the dim light of the bedroom they could see the pained look in them. "From having to reabsorb the temporary uterus as it is no more used."

Draco bit his bottom lip, closing his eyes and trembling a bit as the full meaning behind Severus's words sank in. "...I lost the baby," he whispered.

"It's not your fault," Lucius said, drawing the younger blond into a protective embrace. "It most definitely isn't your fault. It just happened, it could happen to anyone."

"He's right, you know," Severus said. "Really, Draco, you're the mediwizard here. You should know enough about pregnancies to realize that it can't be your fault."

Harry just nodded mutely in agreement, tears veiling his eyes. He hated being pregnant. The female hormones in his body made him unable to behave normally, making him oversensitive and sissy. He was almost the worst of them in that respect. Most of the time, he _was_ the worst. Only Remus around full moon could be worse than he.

Just as he thought about that, he realized another thing. "Merlin," he muttered. "How the hell are we going to tell Remus?"

The three other wizards turned towards him, shocked. Sirius would bring no problems; whether it was because he was older or what but he hardly made any difference from his usual all-male self. Remus, however, was the one they had to be concerned about, especially this soon after the full moon. It would do no good for his baby if he got upset. Severus was determined to save the child once it was born, but there was little he could do for it before that.

"Well, we'll deal with that in the morning," Lucius said then determinedly. "Right now, we all need some more sleep. You especially, Draco -- and you, Harry." He placed a soft kiss on top of the youngest wizard's head, then continued, "Come on, loves. It'll do no good to anybody to stay awake right now." With this, he leant back to lie down on the bed, pulling Draco with himself, as the younger blond was still securely wrapped in his arms. Harry and Severus soon followed them, settling to both sides of their blond lovers. With minutes, Lucius, Draco, and Harry were all fast asleep, even though Draco's sleep was a bit restless.

Severus, however, did not sleep any more that night.

* * *

Next chapter:

Hmmm... Well, something else could go wrong... (Not another miscarriage, though, I promise) Or Severus could be working on the potion to save the baby... Or I could put in a couple of mood swings. You decide.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Nope, I own nothing.

A/N: ::hides:: A little warning... This chapter is a lot darker than the others. At first, Severus was just innocently standing in his laboratory, and then he turned into... well, something entirely else. I had nothing to do with that! I swear! He got out of my hands, and so did the plot! ::chases the plot:: Back where you belong, and at once!

* * *

Lionsnake Manor 

Depression

* * *

Severus sighed as he stared down at the potion boiling in the cauldron in front of him. Then, shaking his head, he took the cauldron from the fire, walked over to the sink and poured all the liquid there. Then he just sighed deeper and shook his head again, returning quietly to his work. 

Yet another potion had been for naught. Yet again he had risked catching the Dark Plague by handling a Dark potion, hoping to find a cure to that very disease, but the results had been negative. Again. During the last months, the whole time after his husbands' impregnation, that was, he'd been working on the cure. This far, he'd had little luck. Some of his tests had raised his hopes, but not too much.

Almost if on accident, his hand grasped a knife on the worktable next to him. With cool fascination, he pressed the edge of the knife's blade against his thumb. A pearl of blood poured out, smearing onto his pale skin. Yes, these knives were certainly very sharp.

Eyeing curiously his hand, he wondered just how sharp they were.

Oh, no, he would not cut his arms anymore -- he had bad scars enough as it was, and besides, the others would have figured it out immediately. No, he'd have to come up with something else if he truly wanted to punish himself for failing Remus's baby yet again. Maybe something that would seem like an accident...

Placing his hand calmly on the worktable, he placed the knife just right. His fingers spread out, he then pressed the blade. It hurt, but it didn't hurt enough, so he pressed it further. And suddenly, the knife only met the surface of the table. He'd just cut his forefinger off. With calm satisfaction, Severus watched the blood pouring out of the open wound. Could one bleed dry from a cut finger?

Then he thought better about it. When his husbands got to know about this, they'd be mad. At least they'd be mad if they knew he'd done it on purpose, which they would surely know if he didn't try to do anything to help it. So, he grasped a cloth on the nearby table and tied it around the open wound on the spot that had once held his finger. Then he raised his unharmed hand to the pendant on his neck. Each of his husband's had a similar one, and they were their best means of communication.

"Draco?" he asked, trying to maintain a calm tone. "Hey, Draco, could you possibly come here soon?"

"Why so, Severus?" Draco's voice echoed to his ears from the pendant. "Has something happened?"

"Well, I made a mistake while chopping the ingredients," the Potions Master replied calmly, at the same time eyeing coolly the cloth wrapped around the stump of his finger. Blood was coming through it. "And I do fear that if you don't come here immediately, I might lose one finger." After this, he broke the contact before any of Draco's desperate questions, which were sure to follow such a declaration, got to his ears.

Just like he'd expected, the young blond barged in almost right after he'd ended the call. "I thought you could help me with this," he said as calmly as only he could manage, waving his injured hand in the air.

"Merlin, Severus," breathed Draco as he opened the cloth and saw the bleeding wound. "Where's your finger? I can still attach it back." As the Potions Master nodded mutely towards the nearby worktable, the blond immediately sprang there, indeed finding the missing digit in the middle of a buddle of blood. With shaking hands, he set the finger carefully to its rightful place, then murmured several charms to attach it.

"Thank you," Severus said calmly, examining his newly attached finger with mild interest, watching especially closely the blood on the place where it'd been cut. "I'll just get back to my work, then."

"No, you will not," Draco said very strictly, grasping his arm. "Not before you've answered my question."

"Oh?" Severus raised an eyebrow. "And what might your question be, then?"

"Why did you do it?" The blond's pained gaze tore Severus, and he had to turn his face away to avoid looking into those silver pools. "Answer me, Severus. I know you did it on purpose. Why?"

"How do you know I did it on purpose?" the older Slytherin asked flatly.

"Because you never make a mistake, about anything, but least of all when you're doing something potentially dangerous. You wouldn't have accidentally chopped your finger off, you could chop those ingredients with a blindfold and you know it. And besides," Draco added, with a much firmer tone, "If you truly had been chopping ingredients... I'd think there _were_ some chopped ingredients on one of the worktables, and that the blood and finger would have been there. Plus, you would not be this calm."

Sighing, Severus shook his head. "Just let it be," he said levelly. "Why do you care?"

"Why do I care?" echoed Draco, now getting even more angry. "You're my husband, Severus! My fucking soulmate! I love you, you bloody fool, though Merlin knows why! Of course I do care!"

"If I weren't your soulmate, you would hardly care whether I live or die," the Potions Master said, not batting an eyelid. "So why'd I let something beyond our powers stop me?"

"Think about how upset Remus will be," Draco tried desperately. "He'll think that this is all about the one of our babies he's carrying. Getting distressed might harm his baby. You don't want that, do you?"

"That baby will die anyway," muttered Severus. "And it will die because I've failed it -- I've failed you all."

"No, you haven't!" replied the small blond heatedly. "You've never failed any of us! And the baby _will_ live -- if you just continue trying! You cannot give up, Severus, and you certainly cannot kill yourself -- because if you do that, _then_ the baby will die, since you're the only one who can save it from the Dark Plague!"

"Of course it'll be my fault," Severus said levelly. "Everything is my fault, right?"

Draco sighed deep. This conversation was not going to a good direction...

* * *

"What's the matter?" asked Lucius, raising his eyebrows at the three of his husband's who'd just entered the room. They all looked absolutely shocked, yet a bit bemused at the same time. 

"Well, a mediwitch from St. Mungo's came to check on us," Sirius said with an amused voice.

"I'm well aware of that," the elder blond of their family said calmly. "Go on, please."

"You know that mediwitches can know things about the pregnancy with their scans far before the Muggle doctors?" Harry asked then. As Lucius nodded, the bespectacled man went on, "Well... We just found out that both I and Sirius are in fact carrying twins!"

Now, Lucius's jaw dropped down. "You -- you're both with _twins_?" he asked, shocked.

"Exactly," Sirius said, grinning. "We don't know yet whether either of the twins are identical. Harry's are not, that we know for sure -- he has both a girl and a boy. I, however, have two girls, with no knowledge about whether they're identical or not."

"And I'm carrying a boy," Remus said happily, plopping down on the couch next to Lucius. "All of our pregnancies are developing normally. There are no reasons to worry about anything."

"Nice to hear that you think so," said a dry voice from the doorway. "Since soon you will have reasons to worry." They all turned to look at Draco, who was standing there, looking extremely serious.

"What do you mean?" asked Lucius, frowning. "Why'd there be reasons for that?"

"Severus," sighed Draco, sitting down on an armchair. The other men got seated, too, all looking concerned at the name of the last of their husbands. "He just called to me," the younger blond continued with a monotonous voice. "Said that he'd made a mistake while chopping the ingredients. So, I went there, expecting to find some wound on his finger or something." He swallowed, unable to continue.

"What it is, Draco?" asked Remus gently, his amber eyes full of concern and worry. "What had happened to Severus?" The others all looked worried, too. They knew Severus too well not to be worried.

"He'd cut his forefinger," Draco said blankly. "Not just made a cut on it, mind you, but bloody chopped it wholly away. When I got to his lab, he just stood there, watching blood seeping through the cloth he had tied onto the wound. It was obvious he'd done it on purpose. But he didn't seem depressed -- no, he was just as calm and controlled as always, answering my questions as sensibly as can be expected of him."

"What did you do to him?" asked Sirius after some time, breaking the absolute silence that had fallen over them. "You didn't -- you didn't leave him unattended after that, did you?"

"Of course not. I placed antisuicidal charms on him, twisted upon myself, then told him that if he tried to hurt himself any more, it wouldn't harm him, but me. He just nodded calmly and set back to work. I don't think he'll try anything now, but..." The blond swallowed. "I can't keep the charm up forever, and he knows it," he said quietly. "He's more powerful than me, it'll be easy for him to break it if the depression gets a too strong hold on him. We have to figure some way to watch him all the time."

"Well, that's easy," Lucius said slowly. "We'll simply move an armchair to the laboratory, and one of us will always be there. However, we should help him get over his depression, so we wouldn't have to worry."

"The only thing that would get him over it is the damned cure," muttered Harry, his arms crossed protectively over his stomach. "That's what he's agonizing himself over -- the Dark Plague."

"Well, we cannot take that worry from him, now can we," Remus said quietly. "Not unless I abort my baby." At this, he, too, crossed his arms over his stomach, a look of fear on his face.

"You will not do that," Lucius said firmly, wrapping an arm around him. "In fact, you will not even talk about that. This is not your fault, not your baby's fault, and no, not even Severus's fault. The only things we can blame for this are the War, that and Voldemort."

"What do you mean, Voldemort?" asked Draco, suddenly very watchful. "Are you talking about his general spying, or did the old snakeface do something to Severus?"

"Well, he indeed did do something," sighed the older blond. "We agreed not to talk about it, Severus and I -- but if you don't get too upset, I will tell," he added, glancing hesitantly at his pregnant husbands.

"Tell us," Sirius said quietly. "I hardly can get any more upset than I am now, and I'd like to at least know what is driving Severus mad." Remus and Harry both nodded quietly in agreement.

"Very well." The blond sighed, his eyes casted down on the floor. "When Voldemort captured Severus, he used him as a bait to get you into a trap, Sirius and Remus." As both men nodded, he continued, "Before this, however, he did some... other things... to our poor love. Somehow, the Dark Lord managed to penetrate Severus's mental walls. Thus knowing full well of our relationship, he filled Severus's mind with horrible images -- images of us all dying, or being tortured, or just suffering. And in every image, the one who killed us, or tortured us, or otherwise pained us, was not Voldemort, but Severus himself."

Everybody had fallen silent. Nobody broke the silence until Lucius decided to go on. "That's why he wasn't mentally stable when Voldemort had you all imprisoned -- and that's why he wouldn't tell anything to you. I manage to convince him to talk to me after you'd all been rescued. He knew by then that the images weren't true, of course, but when he first saw them, they were reality to him, and he believed them. It almost tore his mind apart. It's a miracle that he managed to come out even somehow sane, a miracle that only happened because he was simply too stubborn to let go. In fact, we should be thankful that he's 'only' depressed and self-loathing. If the worst had happened, he might be just a screaming madman."

They all shuddered at the thought. "Merlin," breathed Draco. "I knew that he is strong in almost every aspect, but I couldn't have even imagined just how strong he is. I, for one, would not have come out sane."

Sirius nodded slowly. "None of us would have," he said quietly. "None, but Severus. You're right, Lucius -- it's a miracle that he still has his mind with him. Even if that mind is slightly damaged."

"Well," Harry said, trying to manage a determined tone, "let's just try to keep his body from being damaged, too." They all exchanged determined glances. Severus might be strong, but from himself even he wasn't safe, not on his own.

And when Severus couldn't do on his own, they had to help him.

* * *

Next chapter: 

Some moodswings... And some more Severus angst. He doesn't actively hurt himself, though. I promise he won't.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: A WARNING: This chapter is rather dark. Well, you are probably used to that by now, but anyway...

Also, you'll find out just how they all got together at the first place. The basic is this: Once a wizard or witch turns sixteen, they can recognize their soulmate as soon as they see them. However, if they have more than one soulmate, they only recognize the first one -- they only feel some attraction to the rest, and the bond won't be born until they've kissed those other soulmates.

* * *

Lionsnake Manor 

Recalling Evil

* * *

It was late at night. The six men had all fallen asleep quite some time ago. However, they were all startled awake by a sudden shriek coming from one of them. 

Harry, Sirius, Severus, Lucius, and Draco all sat up in their bed, blinking as they looked around themselves. They immediately realized that the scream had come from Remus, who was still asleep, tossing and turning in what seemed to be a nightmare instead of a peaceful dream. Draco, who was the one nearest to him, wrapped his arms around the werewolf. "Remus, wake up," he called softly. "Wake up, love. It's just a nightmare. Do you hear me? You're having a nightmare! Wake up!"

Suddenly Remus's eyes snapped open, wildly dancing around the dim bedroom. At last his brain registered where he was, and he sighed deep in relief, shuddering a bit. By now, all his husbands were crouching over him, very concerned. Remus rarely had nightmares, but when he did, those were bad.

"What was it about, love?" asked Harry quietly as the werewolf seemed to have calmed down enough to talk sensibly. "Was it again about the night you were bitten?"

Remus, however, shook his head. "No, it wasn't," he said, his voice almost inaudible. "It was... it was about Voldemort. How... how he raped me." Now, he closed his eyes, trembling. A couple of tears escaped the corners of his eyes, rolling down the pale cheeks.

His five husbands exchanged concerned looks. Then Sirius cooed, "Well, it's all in the past now, love. You don't have to worry about that. We won't let anybody hurt you ever again. Do you hear me? Not anybody, ever. You're safe now, love." After a moment, they all joined his reassuring words. Little by little, Remus's trembling and sobbing ceased, although he was still crying silently.

"It's all right, Remus, love," whispered Draco, tightening his embrace around the once lithe man. "We're all here for you now. Nobody will do anything bad to you."

"I -- I know that," whispered the werewolf. "But I can't help being afraid." At this, he wrapped an arm around his stomach. At three and a half months, he was already showing.

"You don't need to be afraid," Lucius said. "You will be fine and your baby will be fine." He pressed a light kiss on the pale man's forehead. "You will see, Remus. Everything will go just perfectly."

"I hope so." Remus gave them all a teary smile, then sighed. "I'd probably better try to sleep again," he muttered. "Staying awake is not good for the baby."

"And on that you're right," Lucius said. "Sleep now, love." Then, he gave a stern glance at Harry and Sirius as well. "You heard him," he said firmly. "You and your babies need rest."

The two pregnant men nodded sheepishly. Three months along with twins, both were showing as well, so they couldn't all snuggle up to Remus to comfort him. Instead, they all snuggled into the embrace of the one man nearest to them, Harry into Severus's arms and Sirius into Lucius's.

Minutes later, both Harry and Lucius were asleep. Sirius and Severus, however, remained awake. Both were dwelling in memories Remus's words had brought up.

* * *

"I don't understand where he can be," Remus sighed as he glanced around in the Forbidden Forest. "We should have found at least traces of him by now. I mean, he couldn't have just disappeared into thin air, now could he?" At this, he kicked a rather malicious-looking bush and stepped over it. 

"Knowing him, yes, he could have," Sirius snorted. Then he turned serious and said, "You know, I'm really beginning to fear that Harry is right and Voldemort has him. That's the most logical option, isn't it?"

The werewolf sighed again. "Sadly, yes, it is," he said. "But still, we can't give up hope."

However, they were anything but hopeful at the moment. Nobody had heard a word of Severus in the last week. The last sight of him had been when somebody had seen him walking into the Forbidden Forest. He'd been going to collect some ingredients, but had never come back.

Sirius and Remus were both understandably worried. They'd only just recently found all their soulmates. They couldn't lose one of them now, not this soon!

It was still odd, to think of Severus as one of their soulmates. However, that was the truth.

When Lucius Malfoy had been captured in a fight against the Death Eaters, everybody had been delighted at the thought that they now had Voldemort's right-hand man in their hands. Their surprise had been great when they'd noticed that Malfoy had spoken truth for the whole time -- he'd really been under Imperiatus.

Shortly after that, Peter Pettigrew had been caught, and now, Sirius was a free man. Unfortunately, catching Pettigrew had revealed their spy, Severus Snape, to Voldemort. The Potions Master had no more been safe anywhere, and neither had been Malfoy, who was his lover and soulmate. So, they had both been confined to the Malfoy Manor, which was the only place besides Hogwarts with enough wards to keep Voldemort out. And Sirius and Remus had been ordered to be their safety guards.

Sirius and Remus had been in love for a long time, ever since they'd turned sixteen and recognized each other as soulmates. They had known there was still someone for them, as they hadn't felt complete, like would have happened if it was only they two. The soul was usually divided to two bodies, but sometimes it could be in three or even four people at same time. Therefore, Sirius had been surprised but not shocked when he had walked into their bedroom one night only to find Remus being fucked by Malfoy and both seemingly enjoying it rather much. The Animagus had simply gone to look for Snape and, once finding him, kissing him right on the mouth. He hadn't been disappointed as his kiss had been returned, and eventually, they had ended up in the now vacant master bedroom.

In the morning they had established that yes, they indeed liked it in all combinations. However, they had been startled to notice that they still didn't feel exactly complete, even though there were now four of them. Four soulmates was extremely rare. Five soulmates only happened a few times in a century.

Some time later, Sirius had been happy when Harry had announced in a letter his love towards Draco Malfoy -- they had just both turned sixteen, and one couldn't find their soulmate before that age. When Harry and Draco had come to a visit, Severus had just been doing his first experiments with the Dark Plague Antidote, and so Sirius had been the only one to welcome the boys to the Manor.

A quick peck on the forehead to welcome his godson -- that was all he had been going to do, honest. However, his body had had quite different plans, and the kiss had landed on Harry's lips instead. One thing led to another, and, well, when the three other occupants of the Manor had finally come to look for Sirius and their young guests, they had to their amusement and horror found them all in the same bed.

It had taken a lot to get used to it. Of course, Lucius and Draco had the hardest time with it. They both loved Sirius, Remus, Severus, and Harry, true, and had no problems with being together with any of them. However, the mere thought of being with each other was understandably repulsing to them both -- and without any contact, their bond wouldn't be complete. At last, however, just to make their other lovers happy, they had fought down their disgust and shared a kiss. At that moment, any remains of a parent-child bond had left their minds, and their former love had been replaced with a wholly new and different love. And, at that moment, the Ministry records had scratched away any mentions of them ever being related by blood. To the world in whole, they were just lovers, and that was all they had ever been.

The Malfoy Manor had become the Lionsnake Manor, for both Gryffindor and Slytherin house animals. Then, however, a new school year had begun, and they had all decided to move into Hogwarts to stay together, as Severus had been adamant on continuing teaching.

Now, however, Severus was missing. And despite their desperate searching, his soulmates couldn't find him anywhere.

Suddenly, however, Remus grasped Sirius's hand, startling him from his thoughts. "Look!" he hissed, pointing at something between the trees. "It's him! It's Severus!"

And Sirius looked. Truly, in the middle of a small clearing, they saw a dark form that they still recognized. It was Severus. Not even stopping to think twice, they both rushed forward to reach their loved one.

However, at the same moment as they simultaneously reached out a hand to touch Severus, they both felt a tug behind their navel. Mere moments later, they and Severus all landed in the middle of an unfamiliar stone corridor. "_Expelliarmus_," somebody hissed, disarming them.

To their great horror Remus and Sirius found themselves surrounded by three Death Eaters. They were both wandless and thus helpless against their enemies, who all had their wands drawn and pointed at them.

"Ah, two birds with one stone," said one Death Eater. "Let's get you to the cell, then."

"Oh, no," another said. "Don't you remember what our Lord said? About the 'special welcome' in case the werewolf arrives. And, well, here he is." He nodded towards Remus.

"Oh, yes," the first Death Eater said, sounding amused. "I almost forgot." He then grasped on Remus's arm. "Come on, you beast," he snarled. "Our Lord wants to see you. Feel honoured."

"Don't take him!" shrieked Sirius, knowing already that it would do no good, as he watched his lover being dragged away. "Bring him back! Where are you taking him to? What's going to happen to him?"

"Well, our Lord decided that the werewolf is the prettiest of you bastards," one of the remaining two Death Eaters said with an evil chuckle. "So, he told that if the werewolf arrived here as one of our _guests_, the beast would have to be brought to him. And as for what's going to happen... Well, he just wants some, shall we say, _amusement_ from your little pet. You'll get him back, don't worry -- although not necessarily in one piece." And then, he pointed his wand at Sirius. "_Stupefy_."

* * *

When Sirius woke up, he was in a dark cell. In the dim light he could only make out the form of another human being next to him. "...Severus?" he asked, already knowing who it was. 

The other man startled and whimpered. When Sirius reached out a hand to touch him, he flinched and tried to get away. "No... No..." he muttered, obviously not in his right mind.

"Severus?" Sirius asked again. "What has the bastard done to you, Severus?"

"Nothing! Nothing! Go away!" yelled the Slytherin. Then, he curled up in a ball, muttering quietly, "My fault... My fault... All my fault..." That was all Sirius could get out of him.

After some time, the door of their small cell was pushed open. Then, a dark form was tossed to the dim room. The door was shut immediately, but those imprisoned were only thankful of that, since that way the light from the corridor didn't hurt their eyes. However, Sirius was now more worried about Remus.

Since it truly was Remus. His robes had been torn into shreds and he was bloodied and shivering. When Sirius reached out a hand to touch him, he flinched, but then relaxes. "...Sirius?" he asked quietly.

"I'm here, love, I'm here," whispered the Animagus. "I won't let anybody hurt you. Everything is all right. I am here, and Severus is here, and we'll all be fine, believe me."

"Oh, Sirius..." And then, Remus started to cry, rocking forth and back as if to comfort himself. Sirius could only wrap his arms around him, trying in vain to comfort him, to chase away the remaining fears of what obviously had happened to him in the Dark Lord's hands.

And all the time, Severus just sat there, muttering, "My fault... It's my fault..."

* * *

Severus looked down at the bottle in his hand. Remus's nightmare last night had made him think about things yet again. He had realized that he didn't deserve anything good to happen to him, he only deserved to be hurt. However, if he harmed himself, he would in fact harm Draco. 

This would not be harming himself directly, however. Draco would not be hurt if he did this. Nobody would be hurt, at least nobody who didn't deserve to be hurt. Severus himself, of course, was another thing entirely. He deserved anything that might come to him, and more.

So, quite calmly, considering the situation, he downed the bottle of the counter-potion to the Dark Plague antidote. Putting the empty bottle back to the counter, he sighed happily.

He would get exactly what he deserved.

* * *

The next chapter:

Weasleys at the Lionsnake Manor!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Awww... I managed to disgust somebody with this fic! Wooo! It only took me ten chapters to do what I have all the time been trying to do. I actually managed to write a squickfic on purpose!

...Now that I've taken care about that... Don't worry. I won't let anybody die, especially not Severus. I have never killed him off in any of my chaptered stories, except for if he's been already dead when the story starts. He's safe, and so are the babies!

* * *

Lionsnake Manor

Falling Deeper

* * *

It was a bright day, and thus, the inhabitants of the Lionsnake Manor were all in the garden of the manor. They weren't alone, though. At the moment, they were accompanied by a whole lot of Weasleys.

After they had established their relationship with Harry, even Lucius and Severus had managed to start being civil to the Weasleys. At first the Weasleys were suspicious, thinking that it was some elaborate Slytherin plan, but finally the redhaired army accepted them all with open arms.

So, now some Weasleys were visiting. This included, of course, a whole lot of children. Ron and Hermione had, despite still being young, managed to produce four children, two of whom were twins. Bill and his wife Fleur, on the other hand, had six kids already, the eldest being five. This included one set of triplets. Except for Ginny and Colin's little baby, however, the other Weasley children had managed to stay childless, but even these eleven caused definitely enough noise and life in the garden. At the moment all the Weasley mothers and Charlie's pregnant husband, Valentin, were talking with the pregnant men. The rest of the Weasley clan, this being their husbands, Fred, George, and Percy, and Percy's husband Oliver Wood, were eyeing them nervously while keeping an eye on the kids.

Sirius was very happy at the moment. He was three months pregnant with very healthy and well-growing twins, he had five loving husbands, and they had three more children on the way. The day was beautiful, and the laughter of the Weasley children made him think of the future summer days with their own children running around in the garden of the Manor. He could hardly wait to see that.

"Unca Siri?" asked a tiny voice from his side. Looking down, Sirius saw the eldest of the little redheads.

"Yes, Carol?" he asked with a gentle tone. "Is something wrong?"

"Why's Unca Sev asleep?" asked the tiny girl, frowning. "Unca Sev never sleeps at days!"

Sirius's eyes flew wide as platters with surprise and shock equally. No, Severus did not sleep in the evening. He never slept other than at night. Never. Trying hard not to panic -- that would do no good for the baby -- he asked as calmly as he could, "And where was Unca Sev sleeping, Carol?"

"In the hall. On the floor," replied the girl seriously. "Is Unca Sev sick?"

"Yes, Carol," said Sirius quietly, all colour escaping from his face. "I do fear that Unca Sev is indeed very, very sick." With this, he exclaimed, "Lucius and Remus, you keep _outside_!" Then, he rushed towards the door, Draco and Harry on his heels as they realized that something was wrong, something that probably involved Severus. The Weasleys, Lucius, and Remus were just left to stare after them.

They soon found Severus. The Potions Master of their family was lying on the floor of the entrance hall, obviously unconscious. A shaking hand holding the wand, Sirius whispered, "_Enervate_."

Nothing happened.

After waiting for a moment, Sirius again commanded, his voice now even more desperate than before, "_Enervate! Enervate_!" And again, there was no reaction from the darkhaired Slytherin.

"For the love of Godric, he _can't_ be," murmured Harry. "Quick, Draco. What was the diagnosis spell?"

"Let me think," said the younger blond, frowning slightly. "Oh, yes. Let's see..." Drawing his own wand, Draco pointed it at Severus's chest and murmured a low, quick incantation. A moment later, a greenish blue light surrounded the middle Slytherin of their family.

"By Salazar, it is true," muttered Draco. "He indeed has the Dark Plague."

"We have to check Remus and Lucius, too," said Sirius gloomily. "Either one or both of them might have the inactivated form of the disease. If so, we'll have to close that one into the same place as Severus, but anyway, the 'clean' one or ones have to be kept away from him." With an even quieter voice, he continued, "Oh, sweet Merlin, let Remus not have it..."

* * *

"Well?" The question came from several mouths at the same time. Four pairs of eyes were locked at Draco as he entered the room where most of his husbands were. The Weasleys had left immediately after discovering what had happened, although not before making sure that none of them was going to panic or anything like that. After testing both Lucius and Remus and, to his great relief, discovering that they were safe from the Dark Plague, Draco had spent a lot of time trying to do something for Severus. Now, the four other men were all waiting to hear about his possible achievements.

The young blond sighed, shaking his head. "I'm afraid that I can offer only bad news at best," he said gloomily, sitting down on one of the free armchairs in the master sitting room. "It seems that he had caught Dark Plague just before he developed the antidote. The antidote kept it from activating as well as from spreading to Lucius and Remus -- they are safe at the moment. However, Severus has apparently drunk some kind of a counterpotion to the antidote, thus triggering the disease."

"That idiot," muttered Harry, his bright emerald eyes veiling with tears. "That stupid, dear idiot."

"Indeed." Draco sighed again. "There's even worse." Now, the eyes were even harder on him as he struggled to tell the worst news he had. "After being kept at bay for so long, the disease seems to be even more vicious than usually. He won't die, that much I don't know, but he might be seriously damaged because of this. I can't tell the final results until later, but I know that it won't be pretty."

Now, he looked at his healthy husbands. Remus was pale and shaking, Lucius's arm comfortingly around his shoulders. The older blonde himself looked very serious, casting concerned glances at each pregnant man in turn. Harry was now biting his lip, trying to keep tears away from his eyes, a task in which he was rather unsuccessful. Sirius looked merely grim, even though he, too, was a touch paler than usually.

"So what do we do now?" asked Lucius quietly. His silver eyes bore into Draco.

Draco met the worried and serious gazes steadily. "We try to heal him," he said levelly. "You're the next best with potions, Lucius; you'll have to brew the Wolfsbane as well as the antidote for you and Remus until Severus gets better. Neither of you is allowed anywhere near him; we don't know if the antidote can keep you from catching the disease when it's activated in him. Other than that, well, we just try to live on and hope for the best." He fell silent, waiting for the others to say something.

"This is definitely no good," muttered Sirius gloomily. "At least now the only way is up."

Oh, how wrong he was, indeed.

* * *

Next chapter:

What are the babies going to be called?


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Whee... Another update... I'm getting back to my usual updating pace. Don't get too used to it, though... I might start updating less when school starts again.

* * *

Lionsnake Manor 

Namely Troubles

* * *

Several pairs of eyes were nailed at Draco as he stepped into the sitting room. Not needing to hear the inevitable question, he said, like he did every time, "He's as well as can be expected. No further damage has been done, but he's still not going to wake up anytime soon." 

They all nodded seriously. Then Sirius asked quietly, "May I go to see him?"

"Maybe later," Draco said. "Right now, however, we have other things to talk about." As the others looked questioning, he continued, "I think it's about the time we discuss the babies' names. Remus will soon be five months along, and unless we decide ahead of time, we'll never agree on the names."

"I refuse to do that!" announced Sirius firmly. "I'm not naming them without Severus!"

"Sirius, listen to me," Remus sighed. "I think it'd be best if --"

"No," Sirius cut him off, staying stubborn. "I will not give names to my babies until Severus is there to give his opinion, too!" He glared at all of his other husbands, daring them to disagree.

"Oh, for Merlin's sake, Sirius, listen me out, will you?" sighed Remus, frustrated. Once all the others were looking at him, he continued, "It is very improbable that we'd ever find even one name we all agreed on, leave alone ten, assuming that we're going to give these children second names, too. Therefore, I think it'd be the best if each of us carriers got to give the first names to the babies we carry, and the biological fathers gave the second names. Of course, if there's some name the others simply will not agree on, they can veto it out. This would be the easiest way, and Sirius could still wait for Severus."

"But that's unfair!" exclaimed Draco. "That way Lucius would get to name three babies, and I none!"

"That's true," Harry said. "It wouldn't be fair that way."

"Well, that's easy to solve," Sirius said, now seemingly calmer when he had heard that Severus would indeed name his babies. "Lucius was first with Remus and Harry was first with Draco. Therefore, Lucius can give the second name to Remus's baby and Draco to Harry's babies."

"Agreed!" said Harry happily. Then, he frowned. "But what are going to be their family names?"

"Harry's got a point here," Lucius admitted. "It'd be good for the kids to have a name they're actually able to remember before they enter Hogwarts. 'Lupin-Potter-Snape-Malfoy-Black' is quite a lot for a kid."

"Well, that brings a problem," Draco said. "We could always name them after their biological parents, of course, but I don't want that kind of sorting. They should all be _our_ children, not just two men's." As the others all nodded, he said, "So, we need to decide what name we give them."

"Well, not Malfoy," Harry said firmly. "I don't care if two of us had originally that name, we now have five names and none of them has more weight than any of the others."

"Don't look at me," Remus said. "I was against our current name far from the start. If you've only now noticed that a long name is impractical, well, it's your problem."

"But if we want a short name, we are back to the original problem," Sirius reminded him. "We ended up combining our names because we couldn't decide which name we should get. And besides, I think that whatever name the kids end up having, we should have the same, to avoid confusion."

"Well, for Merlin's sake," huffed Draco. "Why don't we all just change our names into Lionsnake and be done with it? At least the Manor's name would be fitting, then."

For a moment, the others were all silent. Then, a wicked smile rose to Sirius's face. "I think that little Draco here has a point," he said cheerfully. "I support his suggestion. What about you others?"

"I agree," said Remus, and Lucius added, "Whatever, as long as they're not Lupin-Potter-Snape-Malfoy-Blacks." Harry nodded hesitantly, though something seemed to be still bothering him.

Fortunately, Draco seemed to both notice and understand his feelings. "Don't worry about Severus, Harry," he said softly. "Remember what Severus said back when we discussed our own future name, before we got married? He said that he'd be happy with any name that made us stop arguing and wasn't Gryffindor. I do think that still applies to him. Severus doesn't care about names, just about love."

Lucius rolled his eyes. "Very well. I'll arrange that in the Ministry tomorrow," he promised. "Now, do any of you have any ideas for the babies' names?" he asked then, glancing around.

"Mine will be James and Lily," Harry announced. The others just nodded, not surprised. They would have never expected anything else from him; it had been clear all the time what his babies would be called. Not even the Slytherins even considered disagreeing with him.

Then, Draco smirked. "Well, their second names will be Tom and Narcissa, then."

"Tom is _absolutely_ out," Remus said immediately, looking disgusted at the mere thought. "I hope for your sake that was a joke, Draco, since otherwise you must be insane. And wasn't Narcissa evil?"

The younger blond frowned. "Okay, so Tom was indeed a joke," he said, "but I'm not giving up on Narcissa. She might have been evil in the end, but she was my mother. She never was bad to _me_."

"Okay, the girl shall be Lily Narcissa," Harry said, nodding slowly in agreement. "But what about our son?"

Draco shrugged. "James Anthony sounds fine to me," he said, and to that, Harry nodded.

Remus looked thoughtful. "I'd like to call my baby Albus," he then said hesitantly, glancing at Lucius.

The elder of the blonds just nodded. "A fine name from a fine man," he said calmly. "Albus... What about Albus Nathaniel?" Nobody disagreed with that, either.

"What about you, Sirius?" asked Harry. "What are you going to call your girls?"

"Mirabelle and Cassiopeia," the Grim Animagus answered after a moment of thinking. At his husbands' expressions, he exclaimed, "What! Those are perfectly good names. Or should I name one Bellatrix?"

"Merlin forbid that," muttered Lucius. "I'm just hoping that Severus likes shorter names -- or that they are very obedient girls. 'Cassiopeia Adalphine Lionsnake' might be a bit much to call out at once."

"It certainly is easier than 'Draco Luce Philippe Thomanius Malfoy,'" Draco commented lightly. "I'm beginning to understand why you so rarely got angry enough to yell at me when I was little."

"Well, it certainly wasn't because you were a well-behaved child," the elder blond said with a dry smirk. "I still remember how you splashed paint all over your mother's favourite dress and told it was 'art.'"

"Hey, it looked better that way," Draco said defensively. "And besides, I was five back then!"

However, nobody listened to him as they all just laughed.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, however, Draco wasn't as calm as he came back to the sitting room from his usual checkup on Severus -- he visited there once a day, and house-elves watched him all the time. His husbands all noticed that his mood was not the usual as he stormed to meet them. 

"What's wrong?" asked Remus worriedly as the young blond threw himself in an armchair. "It's something serious, isn't it? Has something happened to Severus? Tell us, Draco, now!"

"I have both good and bad news," Draco sighed, momentarily covering his eyes with his hand and then drawing it away again. "The good news is that it will take a month at most for him to wake up." As they all looked relieved at that, he then continued gravely, "And the bad news... He will never walk again."

"WHAT?" exclaimed Sirius. The others just stared at the mediwizard, horrified.

"The Dark Plague has damaged his spinal cord," the youngest Slytherin told them monotonously. "It's one of the most usual damages of the disease; I suspected this quite some time ago. I've done my best, but I couldn't prevent it. There's no way his legs will ever function well enough for him to walk on his own."

"Oh, Merlin," muttered Lucius, then drew Remus into his arms as the werewolf started to sob quietly, arms wrapped around his now well rounded stomach. Fixing his eyes on the younger blond, he then asked, "Are you sure that nothing else will happen to him?"

Draco nodded. "Fairly sure," he said. "There will be no brain damage or problems with speech, not even clumsiness like to most victims -- fortunately, as he'd undoubtedly die if he had to give up on potions. However, he will have to move around in a wheelchair for the rest of his life."

"Don't cry, Remus," Sirius cooed, although he was obviously fighting against tears himself. "Think positively. In less than a month you'll get to see him, right, Draco?" he then asked.

"Right," confirmed the mediwizard. "Once he wakes up, the disease has mostly left him, and it'll be safe for Remus and Lucius to be around him, too."

"Good," sighed Lucius, then embraced the greying brunet in his arms a bit tighter. "Sirius is right, Remus, love," he said quietly. "Try to calm down, now. It'll do no good to little Albus if you get upset."

The werewolf sniffed and muttered, "Will anything do enough good to him?"

Unfortunately, to that, none of them had an answer.

* * *

The next chapter: 

Hmm... Maybe Severus waking up, or... Whatever. Suggestions? Wishes?


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: In a poll in the last chap of Heart of Night I asked which of my fics I should finish first. The results are far from permanent, but this far I've seen most votes for this fic, and decided that I could work on this just as well as I could on any other. So, enjoy the chapter; exactly how soon will the next chapter come shall depend on the future votes.

Oh, and just for the record... at this point, Remus is 6½ months along, while Sirius and Harry are both 6 months. So, in theory, if the babies are healthy and stuff, they should be able to survive being born prematurely.

* * *

Lionsnake Manor 

Afraid and Alone

* * *

Draco sighed as he ran yet another scanning charm on the unmoving form in front of him. He had promised less than a month, but it had already been a month and a half. His husbands were all getting rather anxious, especially Remus, who hadn't been exactly stabile mentally or emotionally to begin with. In fact, Draco was afraid that all the stress would cause Remus to give birth prematurely. And, even though the baby was in theory developed enough to survive being born right then, Draco suspected that with the Dark Plague and the baby being so small it couldn't be saved, should that happen. 

The mere thought made his heart ache. He might not be the baby's biological father, but that hardly mattered; all the unborn children were his just as well as they were the children of any of his husbands. Also, all this brought back memories of losing the one child he'd been carrying. Biting his lower lip, he then forced such thoughts out of his mind, determined to concentrate solely on his patient for the time being.

Finally the blond sighed again, running a hand through his hair, a habit he had picked from Harry. Physically, Severus was fine -- well, at least as fine as he could be, considering that he would never be able to walk again; he'd be lucky if he ever even got the feel back to his legs. This, of course, made the mediwizard worry. Not much was actually known about the Dark Plague. What if Severus never woke up again?

Just as he turned around to go to tell his other husbands the news -- or, rather, the lack thereof -- a slight movement along the border on his field of vision caught his attention. Spinning around, he stared at his patient as if to force him to wake up by sheer force of will. And just then, Severus stirred a bit. As Draco leant forward, looking for any kind of sign for the man being finally awake, the obsidian eyes were opened.

"Severus!" Draco exclaimed, just about managing to restrain himself so as not to immediately crush the Potions Master in a fierce hug. "At last you're awake! Oh, you had us _so_ worried for a while!"

"...Draco?" muttered Severus, his voice creaking for not having been used in a while. "What happened?"

"Well, you should know that better than well," huffed the blond. "You damn fool deliberately took the counter-potion to the Dark Plague antidote, after all! Now you've been out for a good three months; everybody's been out of their mind with worry! Especially Remus, you know. He's been freaking out because he's sure that not only is the Dark Plague going to kill you, but Albus as well!"

"...Albus?" echoed the darkhaired man, raising an eyebrow. "I doubt you're talking about Dumbledore."

"Oh, of course not," Draco huffed. "You see, while you were out, we agreed on the names for the babies -- well, at least to most of them. Harry's kids will be Lily Narcissa and James Anthony, and Remus' will be called Albus Nathaniel. You get to give the second names to Sirius' kids; their first names will be Mirabelle and Cassiopeia." Seeing Severus' expression, he chuckled weakly. "Yeah, Sirius thought of them himself."

"I see... I'll have to think about it, though." With a bit of a grimace, Severus tried to push himself up into a sitting position, but failed. Sighing, he sank back to the bed. "...Hey, Draco?" he asked then, looking half confused, half irritated. "Why exactly can't I feel my legs at all? Did you cut them or something?"

Now, the blond bit his lip, unsure about what to say. Sure, as a mediwizard, he was supposed to be able to deal with situations such as this one, but it hit a bit too close to home. This was Severus, one of the five men he loved more than anything. It'd been hard enough to tell their other husbands; how could he ever tell Severus, the I'm-perfectly-in-control-and-can-do-anything-I-wish Severus this news?

However, from his lack of answer, Severus seemed to understand what was the matter. He wasn't exactly uneducated on the subject of the Dark Plague, having been the one to create an antidote for it; in fact, he might know even more about it than the blond mediwizard. He certainly knew that damages to the spinal cord or other parts of the nervous system were more a rule than an exception among the surviving victims.

"So. I can't walk... probably ever again, I take it." Sighing, Severus shook his head. "Ah, well. I guess that this time, the blame definitely does lie on me... nobody else."

"I'd like to tell you otherwise, but if I'm to be honest, I can't," Draco said. "Yes, Severus, this is all your own fault. However, I really don't think you have any reason to punish yourself for this; your injuries are certainly enough. And, my love, if you ever do anything like that again, I swear I'll kill you myself rather than let you do such things to yourself!" The last bit was practically shouted.

"I know, I know," muttered Severus, wincing a bit at the blond's furious tone. "And I suppose I can't expect you to understand... you or any of the others, for that matter. Although I did have my... reasons... I hardly think you would see them the way I do."

"Well, that just works to prove that they're not reasons, they're excuses," Draco snapped. "Now, lie still for a moment. And, honestly, if you _dare_ to even move your finger... I'll make sure you regret it."

"Wait!" Severus exclaimed, his eyes flying wide. "Where are you going?" He looked almost fearful.

"Why, I was going to tell the others that you're awake," Draco replied, frowning a bit. "Why so?"

"Please... don't leave," Severus asked him quietly. "Or at least let me come with you. I... I don't want to be alone right now." Draco was startled by the uncharacteristic fear and weakness in the other man's voice.

"Severus?" he asked carefully. "Severus, love, what is wrong with you? You're clearly not all right."

To this, the Potions Master sighed. "You see... to you, I might have appeared unconscious, but my mind was still awake," he said quietly. "I didn't hear or see anything... it was only rarely that I managed to fall asleep. So, I've spent the last months more or less awake, alone inside my mind. And... I don't want it. Not anymore." As he raised to Draco the eyes he had lowered just a moment before, there were tears shining in them. "I can make no promises," he whispered. "But I... I don't want to die, not anymore. I don't want to hurt myself, either. And I don't want to be that alone... not ever again."

Draco bit his lip. In all the years he had known his beloved Potions Master, he had never seen him so... vulnerable. There was no way he could leave this wrecked man alone now, not with the pain he saw in the obsidian eyes. Sighing a bit, he raised his fingers to his pendant. "Hello, everyone," he said then, trying to maintain as calm a tone as possible. "Come here at once. Severus has finally decided to grace us with his presence in the world of living!" Even though he let go of the pendant soon, that didn't stop him from hearing the delighted responses. A tiny smile tugged at his lips. Yes, they did all love Severus so very much.

However, he did find himself wondering as he watched the silently sobbing man who looked extremely grateful at not having been left alone for five minutes. And what he wondered about was, could even their combined love be able to bring Severus back together?

* * *

"Severus!" exclaimed Harry as he threw open the door to the room his ill husband had been lying for the last few months. "You really are awake! For a moment I thought Draco had decided to pull some sick prank on us!" Tears of happiness shone in the pregnant man's eyes as he ran over and hugged Severus. 

"Now, now, Harry," Severus admonished him gently. "You should know better than to think such a thing about our beloved Draco." He seemed a bit awkward but very happy as he hugged Harry back.

Any further discussion was interrupted as the door was again opened. This time the ones to burst through were Remus and Lucius, obviously in hurry to again be with the husband they hadn't been allowed to even see for quite some time. The others had at least had the opportunity of seeing Severus, unconscious as he may have been; Remus and Lucius, however, had had to avoid him in fear of catching the disease as well. Now they were finally allowed to see him, and did that make them happy.

"You stupid, stupid idiot," Remus sobbed, hugging the darkhaired Potions Master tightly as his body shook with hormone-induced sobs. "Don't you ever dare to do anything like that again! I was sick with worry!"

"I'm sorry, Remus," Severus sighed, awkwardly petting the pregnant werewolf's hair. "Although I can't promise not to do anything stupid ever again, I do not want to harm myself at the moment."

"Well, I guess that's the best we can get," Lucius sighed, coming to Severus' side as well. Reaching out a hand to caress the smooth, pale cheek, he then murmured, "You had us all so very worried, Severus."

"I'm not worth your worry," sighed the man lying on the bed. "You'd be better off without me." Seeing their half shocked, half stern expressions, he managed to actually summon a tiny smirk to his face. "Don't worry. Although I do think you'd do better without me, I am not going to do anything about the matter." Rising a hand to touch Lucius' hand still on his cheek, he added quietly, "I will not hurt myself... not again."

The other men exchanged concerned glances, while Draco just watched on sadly. No, they were definitely not used to seeing Severus vulnerable. Sad at times, yes, even broken, but not this... fragile.

And just then the door was opened once again, letting in the last Lionsnakes, one born and two unborn. "Severus!" exclaimed Sirius, on his husband's bedside in a flash. "You damned bastard, I absolutely hate you! I hate you _so_ much, you don't have even a vague idea of how much I hate you!" A sob escaping from his lips, he then wrapped his arms around the pale man's neck, placing tiny kisses all over his face. "If you ever do something like that again, I'll kill you myself to see that the job isn't left unfinished," he muttered. "I need you here, alive, to take care of our kids and name them and be _okay_!"

A hint of a smirk curled the corner of Severus' lips. "Well, it'd be easier to name them... if I knew what family name you've agreed on," he said, still having a bit of trouble with his speech. "I do not believe that you've decided to make them all Lupin-Potter-Snape-Malfoy-Blacks."

"Well, no," admitted Harry, managing to summon a small smile. "We agreed to all change our name to Lionsnake. That's not only fitting together with the Manor, but also much more practical than the original."

"I like that," Severus commented shortly. "So, do give me a minute to think... will you?" And, as they waited patiently for a minute, he thought. Then he said, "Mirabelle Lisa Lionsnake doesn't sound too bad... does it?" They all shook their heads no. So, Severus then continued, "And as for Cassiopeia... Minerva." At their surprised expressions, he smirked. "Oh, drop it. I can't wait to see Minerva's expression... when she hears I've named our daughter that. She's more than deserved a bit of a startle after all these years."

Draco smirked a bit. "A true Slytherin through and through, aren't you?" he said then affectionately.

"Yes, indeed," Severus agreed. "However, this true Slytherin would now like to... rest a bit."

Agreeing with this, the others all started to move towards the door to let him rest in peace, although they all seemed rather reluctant to leave. Draco casted a worried glance at Severus, who seemed to be fighting with himself so as not to beg them to stay after all. Coming to a decision, Draco grasped Lucius' sleeve.

"Hey, Lucius?" he asked. "Would you mind staying a bit? I don't think Severus should be left unattended at this point, but I really need to take care of something." His eyes begged the other blond to agree.

Lucius fortunately caught his hidden message and simply nodded, returning to Severus' bedside. The elder blond did notice Severus' relieved expression at this, wondering just what was wrong with the darkhaired Potions Master. Well, he was certainly going to find out.

Draco, on his own part, herded his three pregnant husbands into the nearest sitting rooms. "Listen to me, now," he said then. "It appears that while outwardly unconscious, Severus' mind was mostly conscious of the time he spent ill. However, he could not receive any information from the outside world, and was thus practically left alone in darkness for all those months. As you can guess, he's still pretty shaken and does not want to be alone. Right after waking up he was still shaken enough to tell this to me. Some time during your visit, however, he put his mask back on, trying not to show that he feared the thought of loneliness." Taking a glance at each of the other men, seeing their worried and concerned expressions, Draco then continued, "That is why I asked Lucius to stay. I think that out of us all, he has the best chances of getting Severus to open up to him; after all, he's the only one Severus has ever told even nearly everything. So, anyway, let's see to it that Severus is never left alone, okay? He was -- he was afraid. And that scares _me_."

Sirius, Remus, and Harry all nodded in response, all very serious. The Severus they knew was never afraid, of anything. A Severus afraid of being alone was something unimaginable.

But, even so, they were going to do their best to ensure that he wouldn't have any reason to be afraid.

* * *

Next chapter: 

Severus gradually returns to normal life. Something disturbs Remus -- something that makes them all worried.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I own very little.

A/N: Ever since I announced the poll of the next finished fics in the last chapter of **Heart of the Night** the votes that have been casted this far seem to clearly favour this fic. I'm not concentrating solely on this, mind you, but this will certainly be finished soon. And voting is still going on -- do vote!

For a more accurate description of the wheelchair Severus uses and how it works, see chapter 22 of **For Our Parents Willed So**. There Lucius uses a similar one.

* * *

Lionsnake Manor 

Loss and Recovery

* * *

Severus leant his head against the back of his magical wheelchair and sighed. Then he returned his eyes to the potion he was working on. This was one he simply couldn't mess up. Draco, afraid that little Albus might be born prematurely, had asked him to prepare a potion to make sure that the child stayed unborn as long as possible. If he was born now, he would almost certainly die. And that couldn't happen. 

Not bothering to measure the ingredients -- with the experience he had, such an act was not needed -- he then dropped some crushed beetles into the simmering potion, then poured some unicorn's milk to follow it. Carefully not to let the liquid boil, he adjusted the flames under it. Then he watched until it turned slowly blue. "Okay, it's getting almost ready," he then said. "Would you bring the vials, Lucius? ...Lucius?"

As he got no answer, Severus glanced to where he had last seen his husband. However, Lucius wasn't there. Another quick glance showed him that Lucius was nowhere in the laboratory. He was alone.

Despite his best efforts, Severus was starting to panic. He was alone. There was nobody with him. All alone, seeing nothing, hearing nothing, smelling nothing, alone with only his own mind and fears in the endless darkness that surrounded him. Why wasn't Lucius there? Why wasn't anybody there? They had left him alone, they no more wanted him, they, too, blamed him for failing Remus and little Albus. They didn't want to rescue him, to bring him out of the darkness, and he tried to run but couldn't and fell and --

Lucius was startled as he heard a piercing scream from the laboratory. Abandoning the ingredients he'd been looking through he hurried back to the laboratory, wanting to see what had drawn such a reaction from his husband. To his great shock he saw Severus lying on the floor, having fallen there from his wheelchair, no more screaming but crying, repeating, "No, no, no," again and again. Fear gripping his heart, Lucius immediately ran to his beloved's side, drawing him into his arms.

"Shh, Severus," he muttered, embracing his husband, stroking his back in an attempt to calm him. "Calm down. I am here, you're not alone. Nothing is wrong. Just calm down, love..."

As a voice broke through Severus' mental barriers, he managed to get some grip of himself. Somebody was talking, it wasn't silent anymore. He wasn't alone. With a great effort he managed to return to reality, seeing that he was still in the laboratory, not back in the darkness of the months of his illness. And there, right above him, was Lucius' face. Lucius was holding him, talking to him, and he could see Lucius, he could hear and feel and smell Lucius. He wasn't alone anymore.

Lucius let out a sigh of relief as Severus seemed to break out of his daze, the crying and muttering slowly ceasing. Hugging the darkhaired man against his chest, he whispered, "Don't worry, Severus, you're not alone. I'm sorry for leaving, love. I just went to get some ingredients, nothing more."

"No... no," sobbed Severus, but this time it wasn't just mindless denial; there was an actual meaning behind his words. "_I_ am the one who should be sorry, for freaking out like that. Of course you just went to get the ingredients, I should have realized that. I'm sorry to be just a burden to you all."

"You're not a burden to us," Lucius said gently. "You are our husband, and we all love you very much. We could never think of you as a burden; that's simply impossible."

"But I bring you nothing but trouble," muttered the younger man. "One of you has to stay with me all the time, or I'll freak out. You always have to worry whether I'm going to kill myself today or not until tomorrow. What have I ever done for you, aside from giving you reasons to worry!"

"I won't even start the list," the blond man replied, his tone still gentle as ever. "Try to believe it, Severus. You are very precious to me, to all of us. And we simply couldn't live without you." Arranging Severus securely in his arms -- 'He's awfully thin,' he thought -- Lucius then stood up. Placing the darkhaired man back into the wheelchair, he smiled. "Now, what do you say about putting that potion into the vials?"

* * *

Despite the best efforts of all his husbands, it soon became evident that Remus simply couldn't carry the baby to full term. So, while they were all nervous and worried about him, nobody was really surprised when one day, as he was about eight months along, the werewolf went into labour. Draco, who in all honesty was rather happy that he had managed to put the birth off even that long, quietly set to work. With the help of Severus and a mediwitch from St. Mungo's he drove all the others away, telling Lucius to make sure that Harry and Sirius got some rest and didn't stay up all night waiting for news. 

Despite his best efforts, Sirius did indeed fall asleep. And so, he slept, until in the middle of night he was startled awake by Harry's voice. "Sirius," he heard an urgent whisper. "Sirius, wake up! We have a son!"

"What?" In an instant -- well, as quickly as his huge baby bulge would allow him to, anyway -- Sirius bolted up, his eyes wide as platters. "We have a son? Really?"

"Exactly," replied Harry, smiling slightly at him. "Draco used his pendant to tell Lucius, who then told me. Remus just gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Or at least he's still healthy," he added gloomily.

"And he will be," Sirius said determinedly, drawing the other pregnant wizard into an awkward but warm embrace. "Severus will keep him alive. He promised to, and he always keeps his promises."

* * *

Although Sirius and Harry were indeed certain that the baby would be all right, Draco and Severus sadly weren't as sure about that at the moment. With Remus sleeping in exhaustion, they were currently examining the baby. At last, Draco casted the charm that would mean most. He was already worried; the baby had fallen asleep almost instantly after being born -- or at least he appeared to be asleep. 

And, to both of their great horror, the tiny infant started to glow with a greenish blue light. Severus closed his eyes, shaking his head in denial. Draco, however, bit his lip, wondering just what he was going to tell Remus. Their three other husbands would have to be told as well, but Remus was the most important now.

Just then, well showing the incredible healing powers of a werewolf, Remus slowly opened his eyes. Seeing the baby in Draco's arms, his eyes lit up with delight. "Is that Albus?" he asked eagerly. "Give him to me!"

Draco now raised his pained eyes to the werewolf. "Remus, you can't come near him," he said quietly. "He has the Dark Plague. We'll do what we can for him, but we can't risk you catching it as well."

"NO!" shrieked Remus. "You're lying! Let me hold my baby! Don't take him away from me!" Tears were running down the werewolf's pale cheeks. He'd gone through a lot for his baby, he'd given birth to him slowly and painfully, and now they wouldn't even let him hold him for a little while!

"Remus, love, please believe us," Severus said with a desperate voice. "If it only was possible, you would of course get to hold him. Now, however, you cannot -- you're too weak from giving birth to him, it might be possible that you didn't survive the disease, either. We simply can't risk losing you, too."

"But... but my baby," whispered Remus. "I don't want to lose him... not without holding him first."

"Remus, we will do everything we can to allow you to hold him, and see him grow up to be a healthy, happy wizard," Draco said quietly. "We'll do what we can, and after that, you will get to hold him."

Draco was going to keep his promise, too. He would make sure that Remus got to hold his baby at least once -- even if it was only as a lifeless corpse after everything had failed.

However, Draco was also prepared to do everything in his power before letting that happen. Therefore, he now collected the tiny baby in his arms, taking him to a room they had prepared especially for this situation, of course in secret from Remus and the others. Meanwhile, the mediwitch from St. Mungo's was left to calm Remus down as Severus went to tell the news to the rest of their husbands. Sure, he could have used the pendant, but he wasn't sure whether Harry and Sirius were awake, and besides, he wanted to be present when they found out. If the pregnant ones freaked out, Lucius would need all the help he could get.

Of course, Severus was rather correct with his guess. Harry started yelling something about Voldemort and unfairness and Sirius announced that he was going to give birth prematurely, too, thanks to the shock. Thankfully, Severus and Lucius managed to eventually make them calm down enough to actually listen to some reason. After all, it wasn't like they hadn't been expecting this; they had simply desperately hoped it wouldn't happen. And now they all desperately hoped that it wouldn't come to worse.

The next few weeks, however, were very strained in the Lionsnake household. In children, the disease rarely lasted as long as with adults; if it didn't end within a month or so, it most likely ended with death. However, Draco's expertise and Severus' potions somehow managed to keep little Albus alive.

Finally came the day when Draco collected all his husbands in one room. Well, almost all of them -- Severus, who thankfully had now developed an immunity to the Dark Plague, was watching the baby. So, Draco was alone left to face four pairs of questioning eyes, Remus' being the most desperate ones.

"He is alive and no more ill," Draco sighed. "There's no brain damage or deformations. However... he will never learn to walk. He's simply not able to." He let his serious gaze dance from one husband to another.

"Well, isn't that great," murmured Sirius. "With a bit of luck he'll inherit Lucius' knack for potions and we'll have a mini-Severus in our hands before we know it." However, there was no true humour in his voice.

Remus seemed to hesitate a bit. Then he asked quietly, "Do I get to hold him now?"

Draco nodded, glad to do so. Even though the baby had needed intensive care most of the time, he had been able to allow Sirius and Harry hold him for short periods of time. Remus and Lucius, however, had been unable to do so, and were thus the only ones who had never even hold the baby, even though he was biologically theirs. To be able to finally allow this made Draco almost happy enough to forget the difficulties little Albus would certainly have in his life just because his legs wouldn't carry him.

However, he did forget all his worries as they all hurried to the room that held the rest of their family and he saw Remus' expression as Severus handed the oh-so-tiny baby to its carrier. Silent tears of joy rolled down the werewolf's cheeks as he looked down at the tiny, round face, the incredibly long eyelashes brushing the smooth cheeks and the little tuft of golden brown hair. Then the child opened its eyes, the silver orbs curiously observing his surroundings. With a broad smile, Remus leant down to kiss Albus on the forehead. Lucius wrapped his arms around the werewolf, placing his chin on Remus' shoulder and watching the baby in his husband's arms. The others all gathered around them, the attention of them all centred on the tiny person, a baby who would cry but not kick, their firstborn, Albus Nathaniel Lionsnake.

And, for a moment, somehow they all found it in themselves to be happy.

* * *

**Next chapter:**

Sirius and Harry are both due any day now. The question is, which one will give birth first?


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I own something.

A/N: The song in this chapter is not written by me; I only translated it to my best ability. The one who wrote it was my great-grandmother, who passed away this autumn. It was originally a lullaby to my grandfather and his sister. I guess you could call this my last goodbye to her.

* * *

Lionsnake Manor 

More Births

* * *

Remus smiled gently at little Albus in his arms. The baby was now fed, dry, and happily sleeping. This tiny human was pretty much the centre of their family at the moment, but that was undoubtedly going to change soon. After all, Harry and Sirius were both due in only a few days. Then Albus would be a big brother. 

"Lucky you," muttered Sirius from his side. "The worst part is already over for you. I'll still have to give birth!" At this, he rested his hands on his very round stomach, stroking it lovingly.

"Think positively," Remus said cheerfully. "Having twins is easier than being pregnant two times with a single child. Therefore, you'll get two times what I did with only a bit of extra effort!"

"Not true. We all are going to have five babies in the end, but only Harry and I have to give birth to twins," complained Sirius. Then he reached out his arms. "Can I hold him for a while?"

"Sure." Remus handed over the baby, carefully settling him in Sirius' arms. For a moment they both gazed at him with similar loving, adoring expressions. Yes, they did love their little son.

However, their little moment of sweetness was soon disturbed as Draco's voice echoed inside their heads through their pendants. The news he carried, however, was truly delightful.

"Sirius? Remus? I'm afraid you'll have to care for Albus for some time yet. Harry's just gone into labour, Severus and I are seeing to him, and Lucius is just getting his hand crushed. Expect to become fathers again within the next few hours, and Sirius, if you dare to go into labour now as well I'll have your hide."

When the contact ended, the two Marauders glanced at each other, identical grins on their faces. "We'll get twin babies," Remus said happily, glancing down at the one baby they already had resting peacefully in Sirius' arms. "Then little Albus will not be the smallest in the family anymore!"

Sirius smiled as well. "I'm sure Albus will be a great big brother," he said, also casting a loving gaze at the baby. "He's such a nice kid; I can just hope the rest will be as agreeable as he is."

Albus truly was a nice child, quiet and agreeable. He never cried except for fussing a bit when he was hungry or dirty. At times they actually found themselves waking up just to check whether the baby was still breathing. This was really unnecessary, seeing that Draco had casted several monitoring charms on the child to alarm them if anything went wrong, but even knowing that didn't lessen the uncertainty at all.

However, now they had nothing to worry about. They only had to wait for a new pair of babies to be born.

* * *

That night the Lionsnakes were all gathered in one room. Harry lay in a big bed with Draco sitting next to him, looking quite tired but also very happy. The newborn twins were passed from one father to another, little Albus being currently in Sirius' arms, enthusiastically cared for by his father. 

"There's an issue I don't think we have addressed as of yet," Severus said suddenly. "I mean, what are the children going to call us? It will definitely be confusing if they refer to us all as 'father.'"

"Well, there are several other words for it," Sirius said, looking up from where he had just been cooing at their firstborn son. "You know, da, dad, daddy, papa, pops, that sort of thing. The only difficulty it to decide who should be called what. I think that Lucius should be called Father, he's the oldest of us."

"Sounds good to me," the elder blond said, shrugging a bit. "What about you others?"

"Well, I could be Papa," said Severus after looking thoughtful for a moment. "It seems like the most appropriate option out of those still left on Sirius' little list."

"I want to be Da!" announced Draco, and Harry continued, "Then I'll be Daddy."

"Well, I guess I'd like to be called Dad," Remus said, chuckling a bit. "Which will leave Sirius as Pops."

"That's fine with me!" the Grim Animagus announced. "As long as I'm not Mom."

At that, they all laughed. Then, with the issue of what they should be addressed as solved, they settled back to their quiet conversation and adoring their newborns, who were both happily asleep.

Lily was given to Remus. A soft expression on his face, he looked at the baby. Then, he began to sing.

_Sleep, my child, my small and weakest_

_Sleep till the dawn of morning._

_You are bathed in light brightest_

_Of the stars, gently shining._

By now everybody else was listening. Even Sirius stopped fussing with Albus and concentrated on the song.

_Sleep, my child, my small and weakest_

_Sleep when your time is given._

_You have time still, have time, littlest_

_In the world's storms to shiver._

Now, Sirius joined in the song, apparently knowing it already. Everybody else just listened as the two remaining members of the infamous Marauders both sang to the children in their arms.

_Your soul is made of snow of flowers,_

_It's pure and immortal._

_Your home is the Kingdom of Heaven,_

_There your sisters several._

Lily yawned a bit, then slowly started to fall asleep. Her soft eyelashes brushed her tiny round cheeks ever so slightly, her tiny rosebud mouth opening slightly. All in all, she was the image of absolute innocence. She wasn't very pretty -- newborn babies rarely are -- but, in the eyes of her fathers, she was perfect.

_Sleep, my child, my small and weakest,_

_My greatest treasure, too._

_I'm quietly for blessing greatest_

_Praying to fall upon you._

After the song ended, everybody was quiet for a moment. Then Harry asked quietly, "Where's that song from? It must be a Muggle one. But then how do you know it, Sirius, being a Pureblood?"

"Why, that's simple," Remus said, a small smile on his lips. "We both learnt it when your mother sang you to sleep. She'd in turn learnt it from her own mother when she was little."

"Well, for a Muggle lullaby, it sure is beautiful," Lucius commented. "Although I do not understand what is the point of singing a lullaby when the child is already asleep," he then added with a smirk.

"It's certainly much nicer to sing to an already sleeping baby than to one who just wails and cries and has absolutely no intention to go to sleep," replied Sirius. He smiled as he gently laid Albus into his cradle, placing a light kiss on the baby's forehead before pulling away. "You should try _that_ at times."

"I have not only tried it, I have done it, too many times to count," the eldest of the men responded dryly. "Unless you've managed to forget it, I have already raised one son into a relatively decent human being."

"Well, more or less so," Sirius said, grinning to Draco's direction and receiving a halfhearted glare in return. "So we can trust you to -- oww!" he then exclaimed, startling all his husbands.

"Sirius?" asked Draco, immediately worried. "Sirius, are you all right?"

"No, I'm not," replied the Grim Animagus. "Either these brats," he tapped at his stomach, "have decided to take on kickboxing or I'm in labour. I think the latter one is a more probable option."

"Well, with the kids being Severus' and yours, I wouldn't be so sure," muttered Lucius, only to be ignored by everybody else. They were too concentrated on Sirius now.

* * *

"...I thought we were _not_ supposed to have kids with red hair and black eyes," was Sirius' first comment as he was given his twins to hold. "At least the other one takes after me," he then added smugly. 

Severus snorted a bit. "Just be glad she doesn't have black hair and red eyes," he then said with a slightly teasing tone, reaching out his hands to take the red-haired child into his own arms. "And is it my fault if you happen to carry a gene for red or blond hair?"

"I suppose not," the Animagus said. Then, he smiled. "She's still incredibly cute, though."

"That she is," Draco agreed. "Then again, they all are -- or maybe we're just not fit to judge, being their fathers." He reached out a hand to caress one baby's thin, black hair. "So, which one is which?"

Severus and Sirius glanced at each other, then at the babies they were holding, and again at each other. "Mirabelle," said Severus, and at the same moment Sirius said, "Cassiopeia."

Draco nodded, satisfied with this. "Shall I call for the others, then?" he asked, a smile on his lips. "I bet they're already anxious to see our new little princesses."

However, he got no answer from the other two men. Chuckling, he raised a hand to his pendant.

* * *

** Next chapter:**

...Will be the last one. You'll see the kids growing up and doing stuff etc. There's only one problem I'd like some help with: How many kids should the Lionsnakes have by the time Albus&co start their seventh year at Hogwarts? Don't be shy to suggest; I have 50 names ready for use.


	16. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I own something.

A/N: The final chapter/epilogue of Lionsnake Manor is finally here, extra long, even. Before going to the chapter, I'd like to say this: having eight children is not ridiculous. Having twelve children is not ridiculous, either. Yes, I do know of families with more than fifteen kids and only two parents, and these kids have grown up to be balanced, normal, happy adults with no childhood traumas of lacking attention and proper care. It is not ridiculous, only unusual.

But it is possible.

Now, multiple this with three, and we're getting somewhere...

* * *

Lionsnake Manor 

One for Sorrow, Two for Joy...

* * *

"Daddy!" shrieked a girl's voice. "Daddy, James is being nasty to Albus!" 

"What did you say?" asked Harry, frowning, as Lily ran to sight. "James is nasty to Albus?"

"Yes he is!" Lily exclaimed, looking half shocked at her twin's behaviour, half trilled to be the one to inform her Daddy about it. "Albus wants to play with James but James just goes all wun, wun, wun and Albus can't catch him at all! Now Albus is cwying!"

"Now, this won't do at all," Harry said sternly, picking up the girl. "Where are they?"

He followed his daughter's instructions until he indeed found a weeping Albus. The little boy sat in his wheelchair crying. As he saw Harry coming, he said, "Daddy, Jamez won't wait for me!"

"James!" Harry yelled, hoping that the boy was somewhere within hearing range. "James Anthony Lionsnake, get here at once!" After a moment, a small boy with messy black hair and brilliant green eyes peeked around the corner, looking very much like his Daddy without the glasses.

"What'z it, Daddy?" asked James sheepishly, although he knew very well that he was in trouble. As if the weeping Albus hadn't been enough, Lily sticking her tongue out at him definitely made everything clear.

"You know it very well, young man," Harry said, fuming. "You should know better than pick on your brother just because he can't run! What do you think your Papa would feel like if we all ran from him?"

"Papa would hex you all," James muttered. Glaring at Lily, he then hissed, "Tattletale!"

"Very well!" Harry snapped. "Then I recommend you watch out when Albus learns hexes. Until then, I think that it's enough that you are banned from going even near any broomstick for a week!"

"But _Daddy_," whined James, then fell silent as he noticed Harry's glare. His Daddy rarely got angry, but when he did, it was _bad_. And their parents were all a bit overprotective of Albus. "Fine," he muttered, turning around and stomping away. "Pet boy," he hissed under his breath.

Harry frowned but didn't say anything. Placing Lily down on the floor, he then turned towards Albus, crouching down to get on eyelevel with the boy. "Well, Albus," he said, "how would you like to go to the laboratory? I think that Papa and Father should both be down there right now."

"Yez!" exclaimed Albus, looking delighted. "Me wantz to do all teztz and potionz!"

Harry grinned as he followed the enthusiastic kid towards the laboratory. A mini-Severus indeed.

* * *

"It'z zmall," Lyra said, sounding a bit astonished as she peered into the crib. "How can it be zo zmall?" 

"She's not smaller than you were in her age, Lyra my dear," Sirius said, grinning. "All babies are small."

"You were a real tiny baby," Cassiopeia said with all the knowledge of a four-year-old. "You were _this_ tiny!" She put her hands almost together, showing the length of an inch or so. "A real tiny baby!"

"Wazn't!" protested the smaller girl. As her big sister just stuck out her tongue, Lyra screeched, "_Was not_!"

"Were too!" Cassiopeia announced. "Tiny tiny tiny! You're still a real baby!"

"Shut up, you two!" Lucius snapped. "If you manage to wake your baby siblings, I will kill you!"

"My, my, such hostility," Sirius commented, raising an eyebrow at his blond husband. "What's wrong?"

"What is wrong, you ask. How about the fact that I wasn't able to sleep a wink last night because this brat," at this, Lucius pointed at his very round stomach, "kept kicking me all night long?"

"Oh. That sucks," Sirius said, making a face. "Trust me, I know. Lyra and Alexander were a nightmare."

"A nightmare would have me better rested," muttered Lucius. "I definitely don't know what possessed me to agree to _this_." He poked his stomach. "And I still have labour to go through!"

"Trust me," Sirius said, smiling a bit, "when you have the kid in your arms, you will know why you did it."

Lucius didn't say anything to that, just huffed and marched off. And Sirius didn't get to think about it overly much, either -- at exactly that moment, little Cameron got enough of Cassiopeia and Lyra's shouting and started to screech like only a baby can. A split-second later Ashley joined in the chorus. Lyra was startled and began crying as well, while Cassiopeia snuck off as quickly as she could.

Sirius sighed a bit. Yes, the children were adorable, but at times he wished they could have been a little less loud. Or perhaps there should be a "silence" button in their backs. Yes, that would work.

* * *

It was raining. Heavy drops of water fell down from the sky in an endless stream, thoroughly soaking the people gathered on the small cemetery. Nobody seemed to even notice it; rather the weather seemed to perfectly reflect their general mood. 

Nobody dared to speak as they saw the tiny coffin being lowered to the grave. Some did cry, little children sniffling as they clutched on their parents' clothes, a couple of witches patting their eyes with wet handkerchiefs. It was a tiny affair, no outsiders -- just Lionsnakes and a few Weasleys were present.

Severus closed his eyes briefly. He could feel the eyes of all his husbands on himself as they watched him for even the tiniest sign of self-destructive behaviour or depression. When were they going to learn that he wasn't about to hurt himself anymore?

A sigh escaped his lips. Although not about to harm himself, he was indeed rather depressed -- but then again, so were they all. Perhaps he had even more of a reason than the others -- after all, not only had the child been his, the only child he had accepted to carry, but he had also been the one to find the crib silent. The babies were often brought to his laboratory to sleep. They could keep him company, as he still, ashamed as he was to admit that, feared being alone for even the shortest of moments, and he could easily watch over them as he worked. That one evening he had gone to his stockroom, all the time fighting against the panic that threatened to take over him. As soon as he had got back to the laboratory he had hurried for the cribs situated there, wanting to assure himself that he wasn't alone, that the babies were still there, that he wasn't the only one in the lab. And he had been proven correct. Cherilyn and Joseph had still been fast asleep, their quiet breathing calming his nerves, their smooth cheeks under his trembling fingers reassuring him that everything was all right. When he had moved to the last crib, he had felt confident that nothing was wrong, that he could do this.

Except that when he had got there, Sylvia hadn't been breathing.

His scream had echoed through the whole Manor.

There was no explanation, they had been told. Sometimes it just happened that way -- an infant, often of perfect health, died without any apparent reason. Nobody was at fault, they'd been assured, there was nobody to blame. Sylvia just hadn't been meant to live.

For the first couple of nights he had done nothing but cried, his husbands all at a loss as of what to do. They had feared he'd broken completely, which was quite understandable, given his uncharacteristic behaviour. Then, however, he had collected himself -- an act of will rather than anything else -- and forced himself to return to normal life. Well, as normal a life as possible. He doubted he could ever enter his laboratory again without instinctively checking the cribs to see if Sylvia was there, sleeping peacefully, as always.

But she wouldn't be. She wouldn't be, and he knew that, and he also knew that it would not stop him from checking for her every single time. She'd been his child, his baby, and he doubted he could ever fully accept the fact that she was gone.

But he wouldn't harm himself. He wouldn't. He had promised himself as well as the others, and he would keep that promise.

"Goodbye, Sylvia," he whispered, too quietly for anybody else to hear.

* * *

"Lionsnake, Albus!" Professor McGonagall read out the name. Everybody stared as a very small boy seated in a magical wheelchair rolled to the professor's side. The Hat was so big on his tiny frame that it almost covered his shoulders. 

There was a moment of silence as everybody waited. Then, the Hat shouted, "SLYTHERIN!"

There was a bit of polite clapping from the Slytherin table as the older students looked disbelievingly at the boy as if wondering just what somebody like him was doing at their table. However, just then Dumbledore chose to speak up. "I'd like to now announce that young Mister Lionsnake will not participate in first-year Potions classes," the Headmaster said calmly. "Thanks to tutoring from his father, the former Head of Slytherin Severus Snape, he will start the third-year Potions course."

This made quite a few eyes widen, and the Slytherins now all applauded. They had definitely heard of Severus Snape, one of the most legendary Heads of Slytherin of all times. Well, he maybe hadn't been that legendary while he was still at Hogwarts, but his efforts in the War and his Potions research had definitely earned him some name and respect. A wheelchair or not, they were definitely going to welcome Snape's son into their House.

However, as the next name was announced, many of them looked stunned. "Lionsnake, Cassiopeia!"

A girl with long black hair walked to the Hat. Almost immediately it cried out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor House Table broke out in cheers. Three of the kids still standing in the line, as well as Albus Lionsnake, joined in the applauding. The other Slytherins seemed to only now notice that the three kids, as well as Cassiopeia Lionsnake, had also applauded when Albus got Sorted into Slytherin.

"Who exactly are you?" snapped one of the second-year Slytherins, Mariel Zabini, at Albus. "And who are those kids? And if you're Snape's kid, how don't you look like him at all?"

"I am Albus Lionsnake, and they are all my siblings," replied Albus levelly. "And I don't look like my Papa because he's not biologically my father. My biological parents are Remus and Lucius Lionsnake -- or, if the names are more familiar that way, Remus Lupin and Lucius Malfoy."

Now, Mariel just stared at him for a while. If Snape was legendary as a Head of House, then Malfoys were simply a living legend. They had been the leaders of Slytherin about as long as there had been Malfoys. "If your biological parents are those two, how can Snape still be your dad?" she finally asked.

"He's not my Dad, he's my Papa," the small boy replied happily. "And he can be that because I have six fathers." Ignoring her stunned expression, he then leant forward, listening closely as Professor McGonagall read out the next name.

"Lionsnake, James!" was the one this time called forward.

Another boy walked to the Hat, this one also rather short for his age but by no means as tiny as young Albus. Instead of the golden brown hair and piercing silver eyes of the other boy, he had messy black hair and emerald green eyes. And, although his features were a bit sharper, he still greatly resembled a person everybody in the Wizarding World recognized -- Harry Potter. "GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the Hat.

"Another Gryffindor, I see," Albus commented. "Not that I'm surprised. James's like a clone of Daddy."

"Who doesn't happen to be Harry Potter by any means, does he?" asked Mariel, sounding defeated. She didn't even bother to look surprised as Albus simply nodded in confirmation.

"Lionsnake, Lily!" The girl had red hair and the same stunning green eyes as James did, and looked like she would be very beautiful once she grew up. Happily she made her way to the Deputy Headmistress.

The Hat had just barely brushed her head as it already cried out, "RAVENCLAW!" Waving happily at her siblings, Lily walked towards her new House Table. There she was especially enthusiastically welcomed by Sierra and Harriet Weasley, curly-haired twins on the third year.

Apparently the Lionsnake family still hadn't made an impressive enough entrance to the Hogwarts. The next name Professor McGonagall found on the list was, "Lionsnake Mirabelle!"

This girl was a redhead as well, but otherwise she didn't resemble Lily one bit. Her hair was straight where Lily's was wavy, and instead of emerald green her eyes were a piercing black colour. Like with the other Lionsnakes, the Hat didn't need much time to think before crying out, "SLYTHERIN!"

"Mirabelle and Cassiopeia are biologically Papa's children," Albus explained levelly. "I bet he's going to be happy to hear that at least one of his daughters ended up in Slytherin. Their other parent is Pops -- better known as Sirius Black, I think. Now there's a true Gryffindor."

"Hi, Albus," Mirabelle said as she sat down next to her brother. "Any problems here?"

"None, I think," replied her brother levelly. "I just have some problems explaining our family relations." He nodded towards Mariel, who looked like she didn't even know how to react to anything anymore.

"Ah, well. They do get a bit complicated at times, don't you think?" Mirabelle laughed a bit. "So. We've got six fathers. They had us all in three couples -- and the younger kids in other combinations. We're pretty much a mixed group. It doesn't matter to us who are our biological parents; they're all our fathers anyway."

"And besides, genes hardly mean anything," Albus continued. "I am definitely most like Papa out of us all, and I don't have a single drop of his blood in my veins. Of course, the fact that neither of us can walk and we thus prefer to just work in the lab may have affected my character some."

Mariel apparently had no idea about how to respond to this. So, she just fell silent, although her eyes stayed wide for quite some time.

* * *

"Albus has a girlfriend! Albus has a girlfriend!" yelled Leonard as he ran down the hall, waving a piece of parchment that could be identified as a letter in his hand. Apparently he didn't worry overly much about the enraged big brother coming after him as fast as his wheelchair would move. 

"Now, what's all this commotion?" asked a calm voice, and a hand snagged the parchment from Leonard's hands. Dark eyes scanned over the first few lines of the letter, and then the corners of Severus' mouth curled into a smile. "My, my. What do you know? It appears you are right, Leonard."

"Papa!" exclaimed Albus, who just then had got to his side. "Give that letter to me! It's mine!"

"So it appears to be," Severus said levelly. "And it appears to be from a girl, too. What exactly is this, Albus? Have you managed to get yourself a girlfriend and not even informed your old Papa?"

"She's not my girlfriend," muttered the boy with a fierce blush. "We're just friends, Papa, just _friends_! Now, give me back my letter!" He tried to reach for the letter, but couldn't reach it as Severus held it up, using his longer arm on his advantage to keep it out of his son's reach.

"You will get your letter back... as soon as you tell me everything about this 'just friend' of yours," Severus said calmly. "According to what little I read, she is definitely not just a friend. And Leonard," he then said, turning towards the blond boy, "run off. You've done quite enough."

The boy pouted a bit, but then smirked. "Just wait till I tell James!" he shouted over his shoulder as he ran off. Albus groaned and hid his face in his hands, while Severus just smirked a bit.

"Now, my dear son," he said, "let's go to a sitting room, shall we? Unless, of course, you absolutely want to discuss this matter in the hallway..." He had rarely seen Albus moving that fast.

"So. Who is this girl, how did you get to know her, and just what is going on between you two?" asked Severus levelly once they were securely in one of the Manor's numerous sitting rooms. "And be honest. Rest assured that I'll know if you try to lie to me."

Albus sighed, gazing longingly at the letter still held in his Papa's hand. Apparently he had no choice but talk -- and be sure that every word he said would reach the ears of all of his fathers before the day was out. Well, maybe this was the best way. His Papa had always been the one parent closest to him, even closer than his Dad, who was a good second. He definitely wouldn't have liked to discuss the matter of girlfriends with his Pops, for example. Most probably the Gryffindor would have been laughing in a minute.

"She's Mariel Zabini, a Slytherin one year above me," he started his explanation. "When I was Sorted, she started questioning me about my relationship to you and James and the others. At first she appeared rather stunned at my explanation, but a couple of days later she came to talk with me again, asking more about my family and suggesting that I could help her with Potions. Well, we became friends, like Mirabelle can surely tell you, and stayed friends, as well. And, well, just before the last Hogsmeade weekend of last school year, I asked her for a date, and she agreed. Somehow, James and the girls didn't even suspect anything -- most probably because Mariel and I always go to Hogsmeade together. And, well, we've been owling to each other all summer. She's my girlfriend. And that's that."

"I see." Severus nodded thoughtfully. Then he asked seriously, watching his son intently, "You do realize she may not be your soulmate, don't you?"

"Of course." Albus sighed again. "I'm not stupid, Papa."

"That's good to know." Smirking at the teenager, he ruffled gently Albus' hair. "I just don't want you to be disappointed if her soulmate is somebody else than you."

* * *

"Well?" asked Harry eagerly, practically bouncing up and down. "What does it say?" 

"Calm down, will you?" asked Severus, raising an eyebrow. "Give me some time to read." In reality, he was almost as excited as his younger husband. Their eldest children had all recently turned sixteen. Despite many inquiries, Albus had refused to respond to any questions concerning his possible soulmate before his siblings were all sixteen as well. Now Mirabelle and Cassiopeia had finally reached that fateful age, and they were all eager to hear the news.

"_Dear parents_," the letter began, "_you are probably frantic to hear my news. Well, first things first: Mariel and I are indeed soulmates._" Almost without noticing it Severus let out a sigh of relief, stopping his reading for a moment. He had indeed feared for his son. Then he resumed reading, aloud so that everybody would get the news at the same time, _"Mirabelle has not found her soulmate yet, so it must be somebody younger than her. Lily is now dating a seventh-year Hufflepuff boy -- an odd couple if I've ever seen one, but cute. And as for James and Cassiopeia... Well, let's just say that some of the younger Gryffindor Muggleborns apparently had some very hard time trying to understand why nobody thought it odd that two siblings were kissing in the corner of the Common Room. And, like that wasn't enough, they just had to involve a guy from Ravenclaw._"

Draco laughed. "How am I not surprised?" he asked, grinning. "At least they don't share the same gene pool." He leant back into Lucius' embrace, a smirk on his lips.

"I hope they all realize they'll have to bring their soulmates here during the holidays," Remus said, smiling. "I definitely look forward to seeing them all, especially this boyfriend of James and Cassiopeia's. He must be quite a character to be able to handle them both!"

Laughter was the only response to this comment.

* * *

"Lionsnake, Amanda!" shouted Professor McGonagall. In an instant a small girl with black hair skipped to her. Sitting on the stool, she allowed the Sorting Hat to be placed on her head. 

"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the Hat. Everybody applauded politely as the girl went to her new House table.

"Lionsnake, Arcturus!" This time, a red-haired boy was sorted into Gryffindor and greeted accordingly.

A couple of the first-years looked surprised as now was called, "Lionsnake, Belle!" The older students, however, didn't bother -- they just applauded at the new blonde Slytherin.

"Lionsnake, Jonas!" The boy who was called happily went to the Hat, being Sorted into Hufflepuff.

Hearing that the next one was not a Lionsnake, the girl now seated next to Amanda Lionsnake turned towards her. "That's incredible," she said. "Are you cousins or something? How on Earth are you all on the same year?"

The other girl, however, just blinked. "Well, we were all born on the same year, of course," she then said cheerfully. "And we're not cousins, we're siblings. Belle and I are twins, and so are Jonas and Arcturus. I'm glad to be in Ravenclaw -- so many of my siblings are here!"

This, of course, made the other girl blink in surprise. "How's that possible?" she asked. "It simply can't be! Two sets of twins born during the same year is impossible! And just how many of you are there?"

"It's not impossible if you have six parents," Amanda said happily. "And at the moment, there are forty-two of us children. Albus, Lily, James, Mirabelle, and Cassiopeia are all on their seventh year here -- Albus is that boy in a wheelchair in the Slytherin table, he's the Head Boy this year. Then Norma, Lyra, Axel, and Alexander are on the fifth year. Ashley, Cameron, and Leonard are third-years, and then there're us four on the first year. And younger than us, well, there's Cherilyn, Joseph, Aquila, Perseus, Oliver, Emily, Daryl, Alya, Evelyn, Haley, Anna, Jamie, Jocelyn, Cedric, Alyssa, Maria, Castor, Mallory, Andrew, Eric, Belladonna, Ara, Orion, Procyon, Adhara, and Tyl."

For a moment every first-year in the hearing stared at her. Then, finally, somebody said, "Woah."

And, to that, nobody had anything to add.

* * *

"So, Albus, how many Lionsnakes will there still be?" asked Professor McGonagall. "In seven years we have had sixteen of them. Are they going to break a record or something?" 

At that, the Headmaster chuckled. "That I do not know, Minerva," he said with a smile. "I'd say that they simply like children. At the moment, though, they have twenty-six children under Hogwarts age, if I'm not severely mistaken." His eyes twinkled as the others' widened.

"Twenty-six?" echoed Professor Sprout. "Where do they find the _time_?"

"Well, a year ago there were only eighteen children under ten years of age," the ancient wizard told cheerfully. "But then, well, Sirius happened. He's rather inclined to having multiple children, it appears. Still, it was indeed surprising when in addition to Draco's set of twins they got sextuplets."

Now, everybody looked even more shocked. Then Professor Vector asked quietly, "And the other father?"

"Lucius, I believe," Dumbledore replied calmly. "We have some interesting times ahead, don't you think?"

* * *

It was outwardly just a usual summer day. Well, the sun was shining especially brightly, and it was rather warm, too, but there was nothing exactly amiss. However, it was a very special day to the Lionsnakes, as well as to all their friends gathered there for a celebration. 

That day the older Lionsnakes were introduced to their first grandchild.

Little Blaise, they all agreed, was just adorable. She had the dark brown hair of her mother and the silver eyes of his father, and her toothless smile was just the most charming thing any of them had ever seen. The proud parents, Albus and Mariel, watched with bright smiles as their little princess was passed from one person to another, grandfathers and uncles and aunts and family friends all cooing at her.

Cassiopeia sighed as she had to give Blaise to the next relative wanting to hold her. Then she leant back against her husband's chest, a dreamy smile on her lips. James wrapped his arms around her, resting his hands on her round stomach and his chin on top of her head. David stood beside them, an arm around James' waist, a grin on his face as he placed his free hand on their wife's shoulder. Soon Blaise would no more be the only grandchild in the family.

Severus watched his family, all the children, children-in-law, and the one grandchild born and the twins currently growing inside his daughter. He thought about it all, and finally came to the conclusion that he had never been happier.

* * *

"I will not come to the graduation." 

This announcement startled everybody who heard it. "But why, Severus?" asked Draco, astonished. "There are four of our kids graduating this year! Cherilyn, Joseph, Aquila, and Perseus -- they'll be very disappointed if you aren't there!"

The black eyes met his gaze squarely. "Cherilyn, Joseph, Aquila, and Perseus will all be there, yes," the Potions Master said quietly. "And they may or may not be disappointed. However, Sylvia will not be there. And, because of that, I will not attend, either."

To that none of them found anything to say.

* * *

Of course they had known that the day would come eventually, that at some point they would have to say goodbyes. And, somehow, although nobody had ever dared to say it aloud, they had always also known who they would be saying goodbye to. However, they had never expected it to come this soon. 

Seventy-two years old -- that wasn't an age for a wizard to die! This couldn't be happening, and yet they could not deny it. He was leaving them, and they couldn't help it.

His hair was completely silver now, had been that for quite some time, actually. His years had left their lines on his pale face, but there was still a sparkle in the amber eyes that told of life and strength. However, even that wasn't enough to save him now.

They were all gathered around his bed, only barely fitting in the room, their whole family. His husbands, children, and grandchildren had all come to say their goodbyes. Many of them were crying openly, some just sniffled quietly, while some stood with grim expressions, only their eyes betraying their true emotions. Even in the middle of all this sorrow and grief, however, he somehow found the strength to smile.

"Do not cry for my sake," he said quietly. "To me it's just relief from all the pain and insecurity. I'm too weak, too weary, too tired. It's well about the time for me to leave."

"Dad!" wailed a little girl, climbing up to his bed. "Dad, don't leave! Please don't leave!"

"I'm afraid I have no choice, Elyon," the werewolf said with a weak smile. "Don't worry, though, my dear. I'll always be there for you in your other parents. They are all a part of me just like I am a part of them."

After some more teary encounters Albus discreetly led the other children and grandchildren out of the room, leaving the eldest generation in peace. Thus the six first Lionsnakes found themselves alone.

"Sirius," Remus said, looking at his first love with a small smile. "Don't look like that. I'm a Marauder, remember? This is the greatest of all adventures; I would be a fool to turn it down."

"This is not a bloody adventure you're facing," muttered the Animagus angrily. "It's death! Death, Remus! No coming back anymore. You'll be gone forever!" Remus didn't say anything, just met his furious gaze calmly. And, unsurprisingly, Sirius then broke down, crying as he hid his face in his hands, falling onto his knees beside Remus' bed.

"It's not fair," he sobbed. "You shouldn't die. Just because a fucking wolf bit you you'll now have to die, the transformations have worn you out, and you're still young and our kids are so small and you should fucking live for another seventy-two years at least!"

"We all know that is not going to happen, Sirius," said Remus softly, gently caressing the other's hair. "As you said, the transformations have worn me down. I no more have the strength to live, and you must accept that." His eyes travelled to the next of his husbands. "Lucius. We were enemies once."

"But not anymore, I hope," the Slytherin said, raising an eyebrow. It took all his willpower to keep up the calm facade when all he really wanted to do was to cling on Remus and never let go.

"No, not anymore," the werewolf admitted, smiling softly. "You are the oldest of us, Lucius, and, I like to believe, also the wisest. I trust you to make sure none of the others does anything stupid as a result of my death." The only response he got was a curt nod. However, he was satisfied with that.

"Harry, Draco," he then said, looking at the youngest of them. "You are the youngest. I fear that, once we others are all gone, you will be the ones left behind. If and when that happens, and also now, remember that we don't really go anywhere. We share a soul, my dear ones. We cannot ever truly be apart."

The two nodded slowly, hesitantly. Then Draco said quietly, "I'll miss your voice, Remus," and Harry said, "I'll miss your smile." It was apparently all they could say now without starting to cry.

Now, Remus turned his eyes to the last of his husbands, seated in his wheelchair on the other side of the bed. "Severus," he said, clutching on the other's hand, "promise me."

Onyx met amber. "I promise."

No other words were needed; they both knew just what had passed between them.

Sirius had finally managed to stop his sobbing, although tears still streamed down his cheeks. There was a sense of anticipation in the air. They all knew -- although they tried to deny it -- that Remus was now living mostly with the force of will, had been for some time already. Now that he had seen his family for the last time and said his goodbyes, he had no reason to cling to life anymore.

Amber eyes swept over them for the last time, drinking in the features of each of them, a tiny smile lingering on the werewolf's lips. "I love you," Remus whispered, "I love you all so very much."

Then, very slowly, he close his eyes, his breathing evening out. Then it faltered, got weaker, and finally stopped altogether. Remus looked like he was just sleeping there, his head leaning to one side, a peaceful smile on his lips. However, they knew that from this sleep he would never wake up.

For a moment everybody stayed silent, unmoving. Then, suddenly, they found themselves all hugging each other, crying helplessly like lost little children, trying to find some reassurance in the closeness of each other. Remus was gone, a part of their soul was gone, and they were now torn and shattered.

They were no more who people thought about when the Lionsnakes were mentioned, if they'd ever been that. Everybody seemed to prefer calling them by their old names. Blaise and Sylvia would soon begin Hogwarts, and after that would come others, their youngest children and eldest grandchildren in the same classes, taking over the traditions of the name.

They didn't need to be Seers to know what would happen. The name of their family would spread as new branches were added were added to the already overgrown family tree, growing to cover new areas, new countries, new fields of life. One day the Lionsnakes would be one of the strongest Wizarding families, if not the very strongest, roots deep in the tradition, leaves reaching for the skies. One day nobody would remember the six men who had shared one soul, who had abandoned their old names and family bloodlines to live and raise a family together. However, it didn't matter. What mattered was that they were there now, they remembered and were there for each other, and one day would all be able to unite again.

A part of their life had just come to an end, but the tale of Lionsnakes had only just begun.

* * *

A/N: There will be no more chapters. There will be no sequel, either. The Lionsnakes may now freely continue their lives in your own minds, but, as much as I have enjoyed this, I will write no more of them. 

It appears that this fic, intended to squick as many people as possible, actually managed to squick the incredibly amount of three people altogether. I don't know whether I should feel proud or disappointed. Either way, I hope you have enjoyed reading this story. I most certainly have enjoyed writing it.


End file.
